Denzel Washington and Halle Berry made history Sunday with Academy Award wins, and for many, it was a sweet victory, long past due. Nonetheless, minority groups say diversity must extend beyond Hollywood'sglamour night - and include other groups such as Asians, Hispanics and American Indians. "If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color, then it is a good thing," said Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "However, if this proves to be a momentary flash in a long history of neglect, then Hollywood has failed to learn the real meaning of equality." But seeing the two winners on stage with the evening's African-American emcee (the often acid-tongued Whoopi Goldberg) on a night when Sidney Poitier was one of the honorary award winners, made quite a statement. The double victory for Washington and Berry - who became the first Blacks to win best actor and best actress trophies in a single year - was one of those symbolic triumphs that signal social watersheds, even though their recognition was for the kinds of roles they played as much as for the facts of their race. In 1939, when Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win an Oscar for Gone With the Wind, it was a bittersweet victory. McDaniel's role was blasted by progressive African-American groups, and she was straitjacketed for much of the rest of her career in similar, stereotyped roles. Now Washington has won for his part as Alonzo Harris in the violent police thriller Training Day, playing a charismatic but corrupt narcotics detective who bullies his narcotics squad trainee while ruling the roost in a Los Angeles battle zone. Berry beat the field for her steamy part in Monster's Ball as Leticia Musgrove, a Southern mother doubly bereaved - by the execution of her husband and the car-accident death of her son. Both movies are frank, verbally profane and violent. They show things unshowable in the time of Gone With the Wind or even 20 or 30 years later.  | | Sidney Poitier got the honorary award of 74th Awards |
But mostly, they showed that African-Americans could be portrayed onscreen as complex human beings - part good, part bad - rather than the bigot-fodder of decades ago: the cardboard villains, comical personas or long-suffering saints and mammies of Hollywood's Golden Age. That battle, at least onscreen, was settled long ago. But this year's double Oscar seals the contract. Nonetheless, some organizations say minorities will have power in front of the camera only when there is more minority representation behind the scenes as directors, writers and producers. Washington Sunday became the first Black man to be named best leading actor since Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field. Now that a trail has been blazed for Blacks, he suggested, other minority actors must continue to fight for more significant roles. "I don't recall seeing any Asian-Americans, women or men, being recognized and not too many Latin Americans," Washington said, "So there is still a lot of work (to be done)." (Agencies) | 
Updated: 2002-03-29 01:00
