Jennifer Esposito, who was on the television show “Spin City” in the 1990s and on “NCIS” in the 2010s, says that in the past month she has been turned down five times by casting directors because she was not “white enough”.
I first saw the story in Brazilian media. I did not know who she was, so I thought, well, Brazilians have a different idea of what counts as White. Even so I studied her picture to try to see how she could possibly be seen as anything but White. I could not see it. To be fair, though, I am bad at that sort of thing (I thought Ann Curry was White). Also, she has an Italian name and I have spent a good part of my life in a place called New Jersey where Italian Americans are the most common sort of White people there are, Espositos and all.
But it was Hollywood, not Brazil, who thought she was not White enough.
Esposito:
“In the last month I was told I was not white enough for 5 different projects. How is this still going on or allowed? Just not okay.”
Huh?
Names that end in vowels: It seems it was not her looks but her last name. It ends in a vowel: Esposito. That is common for Italian and Spanish names, but not for northern European ones, like Trump and Bush and Clinton.
Marisa Tomei had warned her long ago to change her name before it was too late. It is what Margarita Cansino (Rita Hayworth), Natalia Zakharenko (Natalie Wood), and Raquel Tejada (Raquel Welch) did, to name a few. But Esposito did not listen. Now she says that Tomei is “10000% right.”
Many of Esposito’s characters on film and television, it turns out, have Italian or Spanish names: Tina Russo, Donna Delgrosso, Miss Ruiz, Olivia Garcia, Gina Tucci, Andrea Belladonna, Jackie Curatola, etc. Does she seem that “ethnic”?
Latina enough: Apparently she is “Latina enough”. That takes away parts that should go to actual Latina actresses, many of whom, in turn, are told they are not “Latina enough”! Just ask Gina Torres. But even for Esposito herself it is cold comfort since Latinas are hugely under-represented in English-language media in the US.
Hollywood Whitewashing not only makes the US and the world seem Whiter than it is, but it even makes Latinos and Whites themselves seem “Whiter” than they are. (And Blacks lighter skinned.)
Mediterranean characters that come to mind who were played by those with names ending in consonants:
- Heston, Charles: Moses in “The Ten Commandments” (1956)
- Heston, Charles: Judah Ben-Hur in “Ben-Hur” (1959)
- Heston, Charles: El Cid in “El Cid” (1961)
- Taylor, Elizabeth: Cleopatra in “Cleopatra” (1963)
- Danes, Claire: Juliet in “Romeo + Juliet” (1996)
- Pitt, Brad: Achilles in “Troy” (2004)
- Farrell, Colin: Alexander the Great in “Alexander” (2004)
- Butler, Gerald: Leonidas in “300” (2007) – “This is Sparta!”
And then, of course, there are all those brown-haired Jesuses.
– Abagond, 2018.
See also:
- ethnic
- birth names
- Hollywood Whitewashing
- People who I thought were White
- Was Jesus White?
- Was Cleopatra Black?
- Gina Torres
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Marisa Tomei looks like a dark-haired Kim Cattrall to me. Couldn’t mistake her for non-‘white’ if I tried.
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Some people, especially older WASPs, do still talk about Italian-Americans as if they weren’t White. For example, I have heard comments like, “He’s half White and half Italian”.
I have also heard Portuguese discussed as a non-White ethnicity (though the confusion there is augmented by the fact that groups like the Brazilians, Cape Verdeans, and Angolans speak Portuguese or a related creole language; it’s similar to how Hispanics are sometimes all labeled “Spanish”). In addition, I have seen Lebanese-Americans classified as “Middle Eastern” instead of White. Jews and Greeks are sometimes considered separately as well.
The divide between WASPs and non-WASPs definitely still exists to some degree, although it has lessened significantly over the past few generations. It helps that people worry less about religion nowadays, so the Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Jews don’t seem as different from the Protestants as they previously did.
It’s also good that large numbers of immigrants, many of them ambiguous-looking, are coming from all over the world. People can’t just be lazily categorized as White, Black, or Chinese anymore. Even when immigrants are obviously White or Black, their cultural differences show that our arbitrary racial groups are nowhere near monolithic. I have hope that racial divides can diminish in a similar fashion to the ethnic ones.
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Oh, another factor is that about one in every six American newlyweds is in an interracial marriage. More racially-ambiguous children will also make for a less starkly divided society (though I don’t think the divisions will magically disappear).
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Am I suppose to feel sorry for her? I don’t think so. She’s known her entire career the same problems were assailing Black actresses. Did she care? Speak up? No. I can’t take up her cause…cuz I just don’t give a damn.
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What Paige says is true. Italians and Irish weren’t considered white until the WASPs needed a larger number to remain the majority. No Irish. No Negros. No Jews need apply. This was a signal for the Irish and Jews to turn on Blacks, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
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It gets tired, all these constant reminders of racial criticism and bashing. I am a minority and I see more negatively and racism in my black community than when I go into the white community which is subside and peaceful. As soon as I get back to the the hood I see the anger, aggression, and all this racial hate and it’s at an all time high this racial hate, nothing is good enough. Just the other day I saw a post of a police white officer giving a black malnourished black infant her breast milk. One of the first remarks was a negative post bashing the white women saying if that would have been a black woman giving the baby her breast milk she would have been locked up. Well she turned out to be Latina police officer. I didn’t here from him again. However, today I hear more racial bashing and hating coming non-stop from the black community. It’s like the new racism is black on white racism.
Please don’t let it be that the writer of this piece is Black American.
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KingRaized
Yeah no. I go to the hood quite often and little talk is about white people period. You would have to bring it up or it be a discussion of a racially charged incident. No one is walking around screaming “I hate white people today.” Hoods have black and white residents. White neighborhoods aren’t fully white. They are often mixed these days though majority white. A trailer park is majority white which constitutes a white neighborhood and is anything but peaceful. Your example is not one of bashing the white woman. It is basically spesking to the reality that had she been black it would be viewed in a harsher light. I get your attempt at a point, but no need to lie to make it. I am a black female who has been and still manages to be the target of said black aggression, but some of us only got time to talk about how white people are hated while ignoring our own.
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@ KingRaized
“I am a minority and I see more negatively and racism in my black community than when I go into the white community”
Being white myself, my guess is that you don’t see as much negativity and racism in the white community because they aren’t saying that sh!t around you. They will watch their mouths while you can hear them. You don’t really know what that community is like among themselves.
“As soon as I get back to the the hood I see the anger … nothing is good enough.”
Maybe because things aren’t good enough? I mean, the photo you described is touching and symbolizes the changes that have taken place in the last 50 to 60 years, but it is not enough. White people have not changed enough and have not made the deep structural changes to institutionalized racism that need to be made if this is really going to be a truly equitable society.
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@KingRaized Yes, it does get tired. The constant anti-Black, pro-White reminders are exhausting. Those Black communities you refer to only exist because of Black people being systematically locked out of other areas. They exist because majority Black neighborhoods are automatically devalued, as are public schools, hospitals and other institutions present in those areas. Undervalued, underfunded, and underprivileged, of course you’re going to hear people gripe about those who are no more deserving, yet manage to be more privileged than the rest of the general population. Those peaceful White communities you refer to, only exist because the federal government, banks, lenders, real estate professionals, etc. designed them to be segregated communities. They are “peaceful” as long as the people who live there continue to participate in whiteness. Trust me, as soon as more than 5% of Blacks begin to move into those communities, they won’t be White anymore. White flight is, today, couched in excuses of better schools, safer neighborhoods and the like, but all these people are really saying is that they don’t want to live around too many Black people. So, when you get back to the ‘hood’, you see the (righteous) anger and aggression you do because of years of injustice and oppression which has never let up and is still very much at work today. Of course, you’re going to hear the oppressor also mentioned in those conversations. Every White person who isn’t actively involved in interrupting whiteness… every one who goes along with the status quo is complicit in that oppression. Why, when you enter “their” communities, would they ever have those conversations with you? They like being segregated. They like thinking racism is your burden to bear and that it has nothing to do with them. Why would they be angry or act aggressively toward you? Unless you’re infringing on their space or bringing people in droves to live in their segregated communities, you are not a threat. When they don’t want you in their space, they’ll simply call the police to have you removed. The racial hate you speak of comes from where? Black people who hate racism/White supremacy? Black people who are willing to call BS when they encounter it? Black people who see through the smokescreen of colorblindness (aka the new racism) and all of the tricks the oppressor uses to, again, cause you to believe that racial angst is YOUR issue and YOUR problem to solve while having nothing to do with those who co-conspire to keep the system in place? That line about the new racism being “black on white racism” suggests that you really don’t understand what racism is and if you’re happy with that state of mind, fine. If not, please re-educate yourself so that you never again confuse anti-racism or even prejudice and bigotry with racism ever again.
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@sharinalr
“Hoods have black and white residents. White neighborhoods aren’t fully white. They are often mixed these days though majority white. A trailer park is majority white which constitutes a white neighborhood and is anything but peaceful.”
You make some good points. The most stereotypically “hood” place in my area has a growing number of non-Black residents, because the cheap housing is appealing to everyone. Meanwhile, an increasing amount of non-White people, mostly from immigrant families, have been moving to the suburbs.
I know a White guy who lives in a trailer park, and he and his Cambodian-American friend managed to throw a traditional Cambodian sword through a trailer wall when they were roughhousing. Thank goodness it “only” sliced through a wall and not a person! No Black people were required to create that stupidly dangerous situation. Idiocy has no color.
All that being said, I think some Black people in the “hood” do still hate White people. I know of a Black group that claims White people mated with dogs and secretly have tails. They eagerly await the day that aliens will come to destroy the White race. They even have a whole bookstore promoting these ideas. However, I understand that Black racism is generally less dangerous than White racism, because of the power imbalance in our society.
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@Paige.
Wait-a-minute. The aliens I’ve heard about (but don’t personally know), are coming to rescue black people from this planet and take them to their new home in Alpha Centauri where they will live in peace and contentment. You have been misinformed.
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@Paige
“All that being said, I think some Black people in the “hood” do still hate White people. I know of a Black group that claims White people mated with dogs and secretly have tails. They eagerly await the day that aliens will come to destroy the White race. They even have a whole bookstore promoting these ideas. However, I understand that Black racism is generally less dangerous than White racism, because of the power imbalance in our society.”—I can agree. But man you gave some examples of ones that are really out there. I thought more simple stuff like blame for all wrongs or mistrust. Thanks for enlightening on what kinds of thoughts are actually out there.
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@KingRaized
If you go back and look at the history of black nanny care takers since slavery until just beyond the turn of the 20th century there were many depictions of the black nanny breast feeding their master’s children even before nursing their own in some cases. I think Abagond had a blog concerning that and it was not against the law but common practice back then.
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@KingRaized
¡Cuidado con sus palabras! Or you will become ‘not Black enough’ for this site 🙂
(Gods and spirits! The Blacks virtually lynching Blacks for treason of Black racism values– That’s quite a story).
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@A Russian Nagpo
Here is the definition of lynching. “*to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.” No one did that and no one seemed to be harsh in there words. Most prompted him to educate himself. Another little tidbit is not everyone that responded to him is black. So you sir provided an example of how whites love to push a divide.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lynching
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correction: No one did that and no one seemed to be harsh in their words.
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Interesting that Esposito is not white enough, yet abagond laments at the same time that black women sometimes aren’t black enough: https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/jet-beauty-of-the-week/
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Not Black enough. Blackness is not that simple, or my Trump supporting mother would not be Black.
Sharina, I find his antics odd, as he claimed to be a Russian passerby, but he still uses the same rhetoric that White Americans use.
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Ironius, what is interesting is how your name reminds me of ironic and that you are, ironically, dimwitted. Aba did not say that. Esposito said that people say that she is not.
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It would be interesting if you could read minds as you claim. I’ll leave the ad hominems aside and take the high road.
Obviously you didn’t grasp the article. Abagond thinks she doesn’t look anything BUT white. I mean, he grew up in New Jersey, for chrissakes.
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