High school cancels musical play because of race

Boss 302

Pursuit Driver
A high school cancelled a musical production of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" because the student selected for the female lead is white. A black student who auditioned and was not selected started the the complaint with other students supporting her.

“It shows you that theater wasn’t made for you," the student told the Ithaca Journal. "And it shows you that, if you can’t get the parts that are written for you, what parts are you going to get?”

Student activists then banded together under the umbrella of Students United Ithaca and wrote a letter that included a list of demands, saying that, while the young lady cast as Esmeralda was “a stellar actor, singer, and dancer” any production would be “lucky to have,” she couldn’t be cast in this role because she is the “epitome of whiteness.”

It appears that race should trump talent when it comes to getting roles in stage productions in high schools. Diversity in the name of political correctness has gone too far. In the original manuscript, Esmerelda is an outcast because she is Romani and a gypsy. She was not black, but apparently the student who didn't get the role and those who support her want to believe Esmerelda was black and giving the role to a white girl is cultural appropriation.

In CW's "Supergirl" Jimmy Olsen is played by a black actor, but Jimmy was originally a white guy in the original Superman comic books. You don't see anyone complaining about that and accusing the production team of cultural appropriation.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/0...ical-after-white-student-lands-lead-role.html
 
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I read over the article, but what I really didn't see was how the girl who got the part compares talent wise to the black girl who also tried out for it. The article states that the black girl is highly talented, but I would like to know if the white girl is at least as talented.

Regarding the issue of accuracy in casting; I don't propose to be a theater expert, but my guess is that there are times when it is probably crucial to select someone who "fits" the attributes of the character they are playing, and other instances where it's not that important. That would include factors such as gender, physical size and build, level of attractiveness, vocal qualities, and even race. The article mentioned casting a black guy to play Jimmy Olsen in "Supergirl"; but that is a secondary character where skin color really wasn't a critical factor. Take Battlestar Gallactica: in the original series, Starbuck was a man, but in the remake the character was played by a rather attractive woman. And they made it work. But if they ever do a remake of the mini-series "Roots", could a white guy play Toby? Nope!

Back to the topic...I'm not coming down on either side, and that's because the article didn't give us enough information to make a judgement. But I will point out that the outcome of this was that no one got to play the part in question. So where there any any winners?
 
My issue is that the complaint was not that the girl chosen was not talented enough to the part, the complaint was totally based on race.

Oh for pete's sake. Do you people want a colorblind society or not? MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
 
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