The Changing Face

In my lifetime, I have seen the American black go from the back of the bus to being the most important passenger on Air Force One.

I have seen an immigrant from India rise to become Premier of British Columbia, a Chinese go from person without the right to vote to representing Canada at the United Nations and I’ve seen a member of the First Nations hold a feather in symbolic defiance against the establishment of inequality in Canada.

The face of North America is changing. Minorities are becoming mainstream.

This applies to more than reality, it applies to how we spend our entertainment dollars. Hollywood is unprecedented in its portrayal of the black person as an integral part of the American fabric - Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact, Dennis Hasybert in the television series 24 and Danny Glover in the feature film 2012 are all black men who have portrayed Presidents of the United States. This from an industry that once had to put black paint onto Al Jolson because it didn’t believe the public would accept a “real” black man portraying a black man.

I believe Asians in the next few years will become as important in mainstream film and television as the black communities have become. I don’t expect it will be easy – it wasn’t easy for the black community – but enterprising people saw the shift in society and said, “There’s an opportunity here.” By being part of and leading the trend, they changed society - and became fabulously wealthy.

Some day, again hopefully in my lifetime, there will be a Chinese/Asian Prime Minister of Canada or President of the United States. If history will repeat itself, this will more likely happen in filmed entertainment before it happens in real life.


BTW, my late father used to say, “When you stop being better, you stop being good.” I don't think taking a comedy writing course from Humber College was what he had in mind but if you ever doubted it before, now you know for sure, Wes is certified.