I’ve been tempted to write about this for a while, but given Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis’ recent SAG wins, coupled with the release of Red Tails, I thought now might be an appropriate time.

The black experience in America is unique. It is what unifies us across state and economic lines. An upper middle class black woman from New York may very well be treated with the same scorn and disdain as a poverty stricken black woman from Mississippi. Color negates a lot. It can, however, validate us as well. We can take heart knowing that we belong to a group who has triumphed in spite of it all. And yet, I wonder if that is enough.

In the weeks prior to the release, my emails, Twitter account, and Facebook wall were assailed with messages about going to see Red Tails. Television told me that George Lucas put up more than $90 million of his own money to finance the film he’s been trying to produce for 20 years. Actors featured in the film echoed Lucas’ sentiments and spoke about what portraying such heroic men meant to them. I was told to go support the film and fly in the face of Hollywood, which believed that a major film with an all black cast wouldn’t profit. To go to see the film so we (well, really, Lucas) can “tell our story.” So, I did.

I will be honest. I did not care for Red Tails. I found the plot a tad too thin and the lack of black female actors surprising. I felt disappointed. What’s more, I felt embarrassed. Ashamed. Why? Popular opinion told me I was wrong. Twitter told me what a great job the actors did, how great the movie was, how we should support it. Any commentary outside of that was criticized and dismissed as “hate”. When I told friends what I thought about the movie, they shrugged and ended the conversation with, “We should still support it, though.”

Recently, a friend asked what I thought of Davis and Spencer’s wins at the SAG awards for their roles in the movie, “The Help”. Again, I paused. I have not seen “The Help”. I refused. Despite being lauded as “inspirational” and “heartwarming”, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I read the book. I know the story. I couldn’t bear to support the author’s tired recantation of the goings on between the long suffering black maid and her haughty white mistress. I couldn’t sit through 2 hours of black women keeping white women’s secrets, exacting their revenge by making their employers eat shit (literally). I asked questions. What about the maids? What happens when the “missus” finds out the maid’s been flapping her gums? She’s out of a job. Who will help the help? Yet again, I’m told that I’m being too critical, expecting too much…that I should hold my tongue and instead be thankful that Spencer and Davis are receiving awards at all. That doesn’t sit right with me. It’s 2012, when do we (black people as a whole) get to be more than just grateful?

A quick glance over past Oscar winners will prove a bit….monochromatic. Look to past Oscar winners that are black and a theme begins to form. We see that black actors are rewarded for portraying many of the archetypes expected of black people. The evil drug dealer (ahem…Denzel), the lusty dusky temptress (hello Halle), the evil black mammy (here’s looking at you, Monique). I am not discounting these actors’ talents, but I am asking whether it is enough. Hattie McDaniel’s role in Gone with the Wind was racist, the archetypal mammy, but that was 72 years ago. Blacks weren’t even true citizens in the eyes of the law. You mean to tell me 72 years later we’re still winning Oscars for playing the maid?

Neither Spencer or Davis has won an award yet, but should they win (which it seems likely that at least one will), I hope it will prompt people to ask, is this enough? Should we support without comment because they’re black? Should we buy tickets to films with black actors and weak executions simply because they are black? Shouldn’t we be in an age where we expect more from black entertainment and, quite frankly, from ourselves? Shouldn’t we support because they are black and good? I would think so. But that leaves me torn. I just wonder, is being black enough anymore?