Poitier Pointed Way For Blacks To Be Better Than Heroes

Perhaps even more than a Jackie Robinson of sports or Barack Obama of politics, Sidney Poitier was a heroic, MLK-like healer & unifier of Hollywood who remarkably rose above Uncle Tom & uppity “N” labelling by the dividers & demagogues.

Dying of natural causes at 94, the legendary actor was honored by an outpouring of laudatory obits that extol Mr. Poitier’s virtuous & virtuoso career. But, the one thing that stands out here is that almost without exception, the roles he insisted upon in a white-controlled industry treated his black characters with genuine R-E-S-P-E-C-T. How he pulled that off given the history of Hollywood’s treatment of blacks may be open to debate. But, his wisdom & acumen arguably helped revolutionize the way Hollywood (eventually) viewed black actors who before him were stereotyped as you know what. Mr. Poitier’s Lone Ranger dedication to being a black “Saint” on screen also surely if slowly forced Hollywood to portray black America itself more multi-dimensionally. Certainly, he was a John the Baptist to black stars we now see all the time, if not always so nice … and almost take for granted.

Hopefully black kids today will realize how Mr. Poitier stood up for them years ago in one amazing film after another: Besides Lilies of the Field for which he became the 1st black to get the Oscar for Best Actor: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs, The Defiant Ones, To Sir With Love, Porgy & Bess, A Raisin in the Sun, A Patch of Blue… Sidney, RIP.