Was Sidney Portier a Good Role Model for Blacks?

[Seymour Flops]

I think yes. But that is my opinion, and it literally changed as I was typing this. I'll explain:

First, Portier was a great actor in some great movies, no doubt. But he seemed to always be playing himself, which self was a white-acting Black man in the sixties and seventies. Except for "Lillies of the Valley, I cannot remember many scenes of his where he did not wear a dark, conservative suit. A common plot device in his movies was for racist whites to encounter him, and assume that he was either a shiftless negro or a n-word thug. They would try to force him into a submissive role, which he would reject. By the end, at least some of the whites would come to respect him.

I was going to say that he should have been more like Denzel Washington in Carbon Copy, the first movie I ever saw him in. George Segal plays a lawyer who learns that he has a son by a black woman he dated in college or law school, and said son is about to visit. He is surprised to see his son in jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie and sneakers (this is in the 80's), no doubt expecting a young Sidney Portier. Segal loses his job (because that would happen instantly if they find out you got a black kid), and Denzel chaparones him through the world of unemployment lines, day labor, and hard-core unemployability.

By the end of the movie, of course Denzel reveals that he only has time to visit because he just finished college and will have to get back to start profession school - Law School or Medical School, something of that caliber. He held back that information because he saw disappointment (and racism) in his father's face at their initial meeting.

So, I was going to say that the Denzel character is a better role model, maintaining his dignity by "acting black." But in making the logical arguments for it, Blacks would have been far better off with dozens of Sidney Portiers than the hustlers, pimps, gang-banger, petty criminals, winos, and streetwalkers that were the few black roles in the seventies and early eighties.

"Acting white" is the path to success, for black folk. As with any other race, you can be yourself with your family, but to succeed in business, you need to act like those already successful.

 

[IM2]

I think yes. But that is my opinion, and it literally changed as I was typing this. I'll explain:

First, Portier was a great actor in some great movies, no doubt. But he seemed to always be playing himself, which self was a white-acting Black man in the sixties and seventies. Except for "Lillies of the Valley, I cannot remember many scenes of his where he did not wear a dark, conservative suit. A common plot device in his movies was for racist whites to encounter him, and assume that he was either a shiftless negro or a n-word thug. They would try to force him into a submissive role, which he would reject. By the end, at least some of the whites would come to respect him.

I was going to say that he should have been more like Denzel Washington in Carbon Copy, the first movie I ever saw him in. George Segal plays a lawyer who learns that he has a son by a black woman he dated in college or law school, and said son is about to visit. He is surprised to see his son in jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie and sneakers (this is in the 80's), no doubt expecting a young Sidney Portier. Segal loses his job (because that would happen instantly if they find out you got a black kid), and Denzel chaparones him through the world of unemployment lines, day labor, and hard-core unemployability.

By the end of the movie, of course Denzel reveals that he only has time to visit because he just finished college and will have to get back to start profession school - Law School or Medical School, something of that caliber. He held back that information because he saw disappointment (and racism) in his father's face at their initial meeting.

So, I was going to say that the Denzel character is a better role model, maintaining his dignity by "acting black." But in making the logical arguments for it, Blacks would have been far better off with dozens of Sidney Portiers than the hustlers, pimps, gang-banger, petty criminals, winos, and streetwalkers that were the few black roles in the seventies and early eighties.

"Acting white" is the path to success, for black folk. As with any other race, you can be yourself with your family, but to succeed in business, you need to act like those already successful.

Why Sidney Poitier Was a Pillar of the Civil Rights Movement​

Sidney Poitier was an electrifying presence on-screen. In life, he used his charisma and his renown as forces for change.

The actor best known for history-making roles in such films as “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Lilies of the Field” made immense contributions to the civil rights movement. Dr. Russell Wigginton, president of the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum, points to Poitier’s staunch support of Martin Luther King Jr. and the actor’s participation in the 1966 March Against Fear through one of Mississippi’s most deeply segregated regions.

Poitier’s activism filtered into his art. In Norman Jewison’s taut 1967 drama “In the Heat of the Night,” Poitier’s Virgil Tibbs delivered a slap to Larry Gates’ racist plantation owner Mr. Endicott that had a huge impact on the country. As Poitier recalled in his 2000 memoir “The Measure of a Man,” the initial version of the scene was quite different. “In the original script, I looked at him with great disdain and, wrapped in my strong ideals, walked out,“ he wrote. “That could have happened with another actor playing the part, but it couldn’t happen with me.”

Why Sidney Poitier Was a Pillar of the Civil Rights Movement

The president of the National Civil Rights Museum remembers legendary actor Sidney Poitier as a pillar of the civil rights movement.

variety.com

Poitier changed the script during “In the Heat of the Night,” to slap a white man on film in 1967 to make whites understand that blacks refuse to tolerate their racism. Whites don't get to determine our role models. There have never been any blacks acting white. You don't want us to act white.

Anyone making such a comment about blacks "acting white" needs to assess how whites have acted. If we act white, then we create laws to confiscate all property and money whites have, make it illegal for whites to educate themselves, stop whites from voting, and then pass laws making whites chattel. These are just a few things to consider because there are many more, and none are good. So perhaps you idiot whites who practice racism should stop believing you can decide for us who we should emulate. Especially when your punk sses have elected a man convicted of 34 felonies to be the president of this country. Talk about the embrace of criminality.....

 

[JGalt]

I think yes. But that is my opinion, and it literally changed as I was typing this. I'll explain:

First, Portier was a great actor in some great movies, no doubt. But he seemed to always be playing himself, which self was a white-acting Black man in the sixties and seventies. Except for "Lillies of the Valley, I cannot remember many scenes of his where he did not wear a dark, conservative suit. A common plot device in his movies was for racist whites to encounter him, and assume that he was either a shiftless negro or a n-word thug. They would try to force him into a submissive role, which he would reject. By the end, at least some of the whites would come to respect him.

I was going to say that he should have been more like Denzel Washington in Carbon Copy, the first movie I ever saw him in. George Segal plays a lawyer who learns that he has a son by a black woman he dated in college or law school, and said son is about to visit. He is surprised to see his son in jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie and sneakers (this is in the 80's), no doubt expecting a young Sidney Portier. Segal loses his job (because that would happen instantly if they find out you got a black kid), and Denzel chaparones him through the world of unemployment lines, day labor, and hard-core unemployability.

By the end of the movie, of course Denzel reveals that he only has time to visit because he just finished college and will have to get back to start profession school - Law School or Medical School, something of that caliber. He held back that information because he saw disappointment (and racism) in his father's face at their initial meeting.

So, I was going to say that the Denzel character is a better role model, maintaining his dignity by "acting black." But in making the logical arguments for it, Blacks would have been far better off with dozens of Sidney Portiers than the hustlers, pimps, gang-banger, petty criminals, winos, and streetwalkers that were the few black roles in the seventies and early eighties.

"Acting white" is the path to success, for black folk. As with any other race, you can be yourself with your family, but to succeed in business, you need to act like those already successful.

He was a good role model in that he presented a marketable alternative to white folk's perception of blacks, during a time of unrest, riots, and crime. I mean, you got one of the first mainstream African-Americans who was articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's storybook, man.

 

[rightwinger]

Sidney Poitier started playing educated, sophisticated blacks at a time when most blacks were still getting roles as nanny’s, train porters, field laborers and dim witted Uncle Toms

He showed blacks could play leading roles

 

[gtopa1]

Sid was GREAT!! Nuf said!!



Sheer bloody genius!!!

Greg

 

[Seymour Flops]

Why Sidney Poitier Was a Pillar of the Civil Rights Movement​

Sidney Poitier was an electrifying presence on-screen. In life, he used his charisma and his renown as forces for change.

The actor best known for history-making roles in such films as “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Lilies of the Field” made immense contributions to the civil rights movement. Dr. Russell Wigginton, president of the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum, points to Poitier’s staunch support of Martin Luther King Jr. and the actor’s participation in the 1966 March Against Fear through one of Mississippi’s most deeply segregated regions.

Poitier’s activism filtered into his art. In Norman Jewison’s taut 1967 drama “In the Heat of the Night,” Poitier’s Virgil Tibbs delivered a slap to Larry Gates’ racist plantation owner Mr. Endicott that had a huge impact on the country. As Poitier recalled in his 2000 memoir “The Measure of a Man,” the initial version of the scene was quite different. “In the original script, I looked at him with great disdain and, wrapped in my strong ideals, walked out,“ he wrote. “That could have happened with another actor playing the part, but it couldn’t happen with me.”

Why Sidney Poitier Was a Pillar of the Civil Rights Movement

The president of the National Civil Rights Museum remembers legendary actor Sidney Poitier as a pillar of the civil rights movement.

variety.com

Poitier changed the script during “In the Heat of the Night,” to slap a white man on film in 1967 to make whites understand that blacks refuse to tolerate their racism. Whites don't get to determine our role models. There have never been any blacks acting white. You don't want us to act white.

I'm guessing that is cut-and-paste, so I won't respond.

Anyone making such a comment about blacks "acting white" needs to assess how whites have acted. If we act white, then we create laws to confiscate all property and money whites have, make it illegal for whites to educate themselves, stop whites from voting, and then pass laws making whites chattel. These are just a few things to consider because there are many more, and none are good. So perhaps you idiot whites who practice racism should stop believing you can decide for us who we should emulate. Especially when your punk sses have elected a man convicted of 34 felonies to be the president of this country. Talk about the embrace of criminality.....

First of all, I know you are not really black.

Second of all . . . I guess nothing. Since you are pretending to be black, I'm not going to address you through some made up racist character.

 

[Seymour Flops]

He was a good role model in that he presented a marketable alternative to white folk's perception of blacks, during a time of unrest, riots, and crime. I mean, you got one of the first mainstream African-Americans who was articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's storybook, man.

The tragic part of today's black young people is that many of them are acting out stereotypes created by Whites in Hollywood. Since the Hollywood stereotypes of blacks only fall into two categories: Negative and condescending, that is to their severe detriment.

 

[Frankeneinstein]

Was Sidney Portier a Good Role Model for Blacks?​

Sidney Portier was a great role model for everyone on this planet, he is in the JFK, Obama class of human beings, they provided the world with a visual device of what is possible in order to advance the human condition positively.

 

[Moonglow]

I think yes. But that is my opinion, and it literally changed as I was typing this. I'll explain:

First, Portier was a great actor in some great movies, no doubt. But he seemed to always be playing himself, which self was a white-acting Black man in the sixties and seventies. Except for "Lillies of the Valley, I cannot remember many scenes of his where he did not wear a dark, conservative suit. A common plot device in his movies was for racist whites to encounter him, and assume that he was either a shiftless negro or a n-word thug. They would try to force him into a submissive role, which he would reject. By the end, at least some of the whites would come to respect him.

I was going to say that he should have been more like Denzel Washington in Carbon Copy, the first movie I ever saw him in. George Segal plays a lawyer who learns that he has a son by a black woman he dated in college or law school, and said son is about to visit. He is surprised to see his son in jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie and sneakers (this is in the 80's), no doubt expecting a young Sidney Portier. Segal loses his job (because that would happen instantly if they find out you got a black kid), and Denzel chaparones him through the world of unemployment lines, day labor, and hard-core unemployability.

By the end of the movie, of course Denzel reveals that he only has time to visit because he just finished college and will have to get back to start profession school - Law School or Medical School, something of that caliber. He held back that information because he saw disappointment (and racism) in his father's face at their initial meeting.

So, I was going to say that the Denzel character is a better role model, maintaining his dignity by "acting black." But in making the logical arguments for it, Blacks would have been far better off with dozens of Sidney Portiers than the hustlers, pimps, gang-banger, petty criminals, winos, and streetwalkers that were the few black roles in the seventies and early eighties.

"Acting white" is the path to success, for black folk. As with any other race, you can be yourself with your family, but to succeed in business, you need to act like those already successful.

Did the Marx Brothers act Jewish?

 

[Frankeneinstein]

He was a good role model in that he presented a marketable alternative to white folk's perception of blacks, during a time of unrest, riots, and crime. I mean, you got one of the first mainstream African-Americans who was articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's storybook, man.

Yo Galt...that is one great avatar bro

 

[SmokeALib]

2 of my favorites were the last 2 he made: The Last Brickmaker and Noah Dearborn. Both excellent. I also liked Little Nikita with River Phoenix.

 

[22lcidw]

The tragic part of today's black young people is that many of them are acting out stereotypes created by Whites in Hollywood. Since the Hollywood stereotypes of blacks only fall into two categories: Negative and condescending, that is to their severe detriment.

Currently some of the African American politicians are doing the stereotype act. Unfortunately, that resembles the movie Idiocracy.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

I think yes. But that is my opinion, and it literally changed as I was typing this. I'll explain:

First, Portier was a great actor in some great movies, no doubt. But he seemed to always be playing himself, which self was a white-acting Black man in the sixties and seventies. Except for "Lillies of the Valley, I cannot remember many scenes of his where he did not wear a dark, conservative suit. A common plot device in his movies was for racist whites to encounter him, and assume that he was either a shiftless negro or a n-word thug. They would try to force him into a submissive role, which he would reject. By the end, at least some of the whites would come to respect him.

I was going to say that he should have been more like Denzel Washington in Carbon Copy, the first movie I ever saw him in. George Segal plays a lawyer who learns that he has a son by a black woman he dated in college or law school, and said son is about to visit. He is surprised to see his son in jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie and sneakers (this is in the 80's), no doubt expecting a young Sidney Portier. Segal loses his job (because that would happen instantly if they find out you got a black kid), and Denzel chaparones him through the world of unemployment lines, day labor, and hard-core unemployability.

By the end of the movie, of course Denzel reveals that he only has time to visit because he just finished college and will have to get back to start profession school - Law School or Medical School, something of that caliber. He held back that information because he saw disappointment (and racism) in his father's face at their initial meeting.

So, I was going to say that the Denzel character is a better role model, maintaining his dignity by "acting black." But in making the logical arguments for it, Blacks would have been far better off with dozens of Sidney Portiers than the hustlers, pimps, gang-banger, petty criminals, winos, and streetwalkers that were the few black roles in the seventies and early eighties.

"Acting white" is the path to success, for black folk. As with any other race, you can be yourself with your family, but to succeed in business, you need to act like those already successful.

To be successful you need to act like you are already successful. This was a message successfully posed in Hillbilly Elegy where a young JD Vance called his girlfriend to ask about the placement of eating utensils. Acting civilized is only expected of white people and Asians. To blacks, we are expected savagery. Anything else is race treason.

 

[Street Juice]

I think yes. But that is my opinion, and it literally changed as I was typing this. I'll explain:

First, Portier was a great actor in some great movies, no doubt. But he seemed to always be playing himself, which self was a white-acting Black man in the sixties and seventies. Except for "Lillies of the Valley, I cannot remember many scenes of his where he did not wear a dark, conservative suit. A common plot device in his movies was for racist whites to encounter him, and assume that he was either a shiftless negro or a n-word thug. They would try to force him into a submissive role, which he would reject. By the end, at least some of the whites would come to respect him.

I was going to say that he should have been more like Denzel Washington in Carbon Copy, the first movie I ever saw him in. George Segal plays a lawyer who learns that he has a son by a black woman he dated in college or law school, and said son is about to visit. He is surprised to see his son in jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie and sneakers (this is in the 80's), no doubt expecting a young Sidney Portier. Segal loses his job (because that would happen instantly if they find out you got a black kid), and Denzel chaparones him through the world of unemployment lines, day labor, and hard-core unemployability.

By the end of the movie, of course Denzel reveals that he only has time to visit because he just finished college and will have to get back to start profession school - Law School or Medical School, something of that caliber. He held back that information because he saw disappointment (and racism) in his father's face at their initial meeting.

So, I was going to say that the Denzel character is a better role model, maintaining his dignity by "acting black." But in making the logical arguments for it, Blacks would have been far better off with dozens of Sidney Portiers than the hustlers, pimps, gang-banger, petty criminals, winos, and streetwalkers that were the few black roles in the seventies and early eighties.

"Acting white" is the path to success, for black folk. As with any other race, you can be yourself with your family, but to succeed in business, you need to act like those already successful.

I'm not sure. Apparently one of those kids who was running around California punching old Asian ladies in the face (and who hasn't been tempted) had his room covered with Sidney Poitier posters. I mean, Sidney? What the hell kind of name is that for a dude--especially a black dude. I can see Sir D'Ne, but Sidney? ROTFLMBAO.

 

[DGS49]

It was said many years ago that the characters portrayed by Poitier were "what Americans were expecting to come out of the Civil Rights movement." Blacks who strove for excellence, respected the prevailing culture, and made no excuses.

We see a lot of such people today, and almost all of them are Republican.

As for his personal role in the Civil Rights movement, he was not as prominent in the MSM as others at the time.