It’s fascinating to watch the slow wave of change that’s happening before our eyes.
I’m talking about the high praise and recognition that people of colour (PoC) are starting to get.
It’s a slow, but steady wave that has been gaining momentum; a sign of – if not excellence – then at least competence that no longer needs to be proven or defended.
It is also clear evidence of the role that mass media plays in maintaining or changing public perception.
I have written about this many times before, mentioning advertising campaigns that now almost always feature PoC in all our honey-toned, kinky-haired glory.
It’s especially satisfying seeing children of colour in magazines, posters and billboards.
The psychological impact will be a slow one, but over time, it will have a generational impact that will be impossible to reverse.
The other area where it has been profoundly noticeable, is of course in cinema.
So acute has been the change, that the absence of PoC in movies, or our mere token inclusion, has become glaringly and painfully noticeable.
That having been said, we are at a time in history where entire, big-budget blockbusters are being helmed by black actors, something that wouldn’t have been deemed possible a few short years ago.
Now we’ve had a female Black Panther, The Women King, Bridgerton and many others.
There’s a black Spiderman, whispers of a black Superman, a black Little Mermaid and a black female 007 (although it was momentary).
The importance of these characters cannot be overstated, as it creates and instils a new level of self-confidence in the minds of young black children seeing themselves in positions of power, despite it being fictional.
But that fictional representation quickly starts to spill over into reality, which is what we are starting to see.
Scotland and the UK are probably the whitest of white places, and both now have immigrants of ethnic minorities leading them.
Humza Yousaf was voted into power in Scotland recently, after beating Anas Sarwar at the polls.
Both men are second-generation immigrants who were at one stage victims of racist abuse.
Yousaf – a Muslim, was congratulated by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – a Hindu.
I point this out because, while Sunak’s family emigrated to the UK from East Africa, they are of Indian origin.
Yousaf’s family tree stretched to Pakistan.
All places at one stage colonised by a region they now lead; as if the servant has now become the master.
Commenting on Yousaf’s election, Anas Sarwar said their respective grandparents would never have imagined that their grandchildren would one day reach the positions that they have, in a society where they once didn’t feel welcome.
I’m not saying that billboards and blockbuster movies had anything to do with it. But let’s just consider how the animations “Soul,” “Coco” and “Encanto” had a massive impact on black kids around the world.
In it, dark eyes (not blue), curly black locks (not long straight blond ones) and brown skin are all being celebrated as normal, competent and even extraordinary.
It’s one thing that it gives shape to the dreams of young children of colour, but it’s a different thing entirely when it changes the hearts and minds of their white peers and their parents, to the point that they vote them into power over them.
And we need both, if we are going to change our reality to reflect our cinema; to allow life to imitate art!