2008 Woodie Awards
Not just at face value
Race in Alicia Keys' casting for video
Brian Bodner
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Opinion
Over the past 12 hours, I have seen something on campus-a silent insurgence. This arose when Alicia Keys came to shoot a music video on Drew's campus. The rumor was that the video was only to include black students-"no whites allowed". There is a valid point for the casting segregation, a reason better left for the end of this article.
The majority of white students on this campus, upon hearing of the casting policy, voiced strong oppositions.
Their arguments ranged from, "It's not fair that the only music video shot at Drew discriminates against whites," to, "If a white singer came to campus and only cast whites, there would be outrage and rioting." After hours of hearing complaints, I felt that I should feel the same way. I do not know why, but I did not.
As the day proceeded, I heard more rumors. "There was a casting e-mail that had only been sent to black students," that "Alicia Keys, herself asked that no whites be in the video."
The quiet talk amongst the black students I knew was equally ugly. I was hearing that most black students had no problem with the race selection-some even saying, "Now you know what it's like." My interest in the discrimination issue was becoming squandered by my attentiveness to the larger problem-everybody seemed to be strongly opinionated, but nobody was voicing that to their counter-race.
At dinner, I called my best friend for advice. Marc is black, and I white. We come from two different lifestyles and two different economic situations, but we share the same values. These were the reasons for this call. He highlighted the necessity to bring forth the honest nature of the situation. With this, I went to the video shoot and began asking questions.
I found a production assistant who was, at first, offended by the insinuations of discrimination. After being told that a white person should sooner write about the demographics of Drew, the PA began to search for direct answers to my questions.
The majority of white students on this campus, upon hearing of the casting policy, voiced strong oppositions.
Their arguments ranged from, "It's not fair that the only music video shot at Drew discriminates against whites," to, "If a white singer came to campus and only cast whites, there would be outrage and rioting." After hours of hearing complaints, I felt that I should feel the same way. I do not know why, but I did not.
As the day proceeded, I heard more rumors. "There was a casting e-mail that had only been sent to black students," that "Alicia Keys, herself asked that no whites be in the video."
The quiet talk amongst the black students I knew was equally ugly. I was hearing that most black students had no problem with the race selection-some even saying, "Now you know what it's like." My interest in the discrimination issue was becoming squandered by my attentiveness to the larger problem-everybody seemed to be strongly opinionated, but nobody was voicing that to their counter-race.
At dinner, I called my best friend for advice. Marc is black, and I white. We come from two different lifestyles and two different economic situations, but we share the same values. These were the reasons for this call. He highlighted the necessity to bring forth the honest nature of the situation. With this, I went to the video shoot and began asking questions.
I found a production assistant who was, at first, offended by the insinuations of discrimination. After being told that a white person should sooner write about the demographics of Drew, the PA began to search for direct answers to my questions.
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