Thread by @insomnochick

Fact: very few movies and plays have been made over time with black protagonists telling stories unique to black Americans.
Fallacy: this means it's racist to complain about black actors portraying white historical figures. 1/

I've long wondered what would happen if the people arguing "Race of actors shouldn't matter," even if the real life person, or original fictional character was from a specific ethnic storytelling tradition (see: Snow White, Cinderella, etc) would do if we flipped that script. 2/

"The role of Frederick Douglass will be played by Kevin Costner," or "The Life Story of Richard Pryor, starring Rowan Atkinson."
Why would this be a problem? Shouldn't it matter more if they are good actors? 3/

Just because A is true, doesn't make B the logical solution. Tell more black stories, cast them with black actors. And don't get all bent if some of those stories show black Americans in a negative light (ask Italians what that's like).4/

Phenotype isn't a costume, and ethnicity isn't always interchangeable across all phenotypes for storytelling purposes, especially when portraying real people. So unless you're OK with Harriet Tubman, as played by Meryl Streep, cut the crap with the double standards. /END