The
BBC has been accused of creating "perfect BNP propaganda"
with a controversial drama about the black community
set to be screened this week.
Shoot the Messenger has been denounced
as "the most racist programme" ever made in
the BBC's history and has been widely pilloried by critics
and racial equality campaigners.
The 90-minute fictional film - originally
titled F*** Black People - focuses on black teacher
Joe Pascale, whose determination to save black youngsters
in his class from a life of gangs, crime and underachievement
is thwarted when one pupil falsely accuses him of assault.
Pascale goes on to blame the black
community for all the ills which befall its members,
claiming they are using a legacy of slavery and blame
culture as an excuse for failing to achieve.
Critics have complained the film perpetuates
offensive stereotypes of black people, from gun-toting
murderers and the unemployed to single mothers.
Angry scenes broke out when the film
was premiered in London last month - but despite the
controversy, it is set to be screened on BBC2 on Wednesday.
Toyin Agbetu, of equality campaign
group Ligali, said: "It is the BNP calling card.
If you are a racist and you want something to beat black
people over the head with, here comes Shoot the Messenger.
"The fact no one sought to publicly
challenge the wisdom of commissioning a film titled
F*** Black People or that no one saw a contradiction
in making a dramatic comedy using offensive stereotypes
makes Shoot the Messenger essential viewing for everyone
in our community who ever had doubts about the BBC and
its vehemously anti-African output.
"No one can deny there are issues
within the African community that need to be addressed
but we do not have a monopoly on social and cultural
problems.
"The ongoing collusion with the
stale, male and pale decision makers at the BBC continues
to result in the perpetuation of a myth of an incompetent,
idiotic, ineffective and indifferent community."
The drama penned by black writer Sharon
Foster opens with Pascale uttering the words: "Whenever
I think about it, everything bad that has ever happened
to me involved a black person."
He goes on to state: "I hate being
black", "What is it with black people?"
and "F*** black people."
BBC2 controller Roly Keating claimed
the drama would prove a landmark piece on the par of
the 1956 play Look Back in Anger, adding it spoke to
a "generation of black Britons." But critics
have condemned it as "unrelenting and pessimistic",
"demeaning", "unremittingly negative"
and "undoubtedly racist."
Jason Bissessur, of the Black Britain
website, said: "The film contains many racist,
negative and stereotypical representations of black
people."
Another online commentator added: "If
it was about Asian, Jewish or white people it would
never get commissioned."
Hackney-born Miss Foster, 41, who has
Jamaican parents, said the BBC insisted she change the
original title but asked her to rewrite her original
draft because it was not "brave" enough. She
previously triggered outrage with the TV drama Babyfather,
which was accused of stereotyping black people as drug-taking
wife-beaters.
Miss Foster said: "I really wanted
to look at the propensity for black people to blame
everyone but ourselves - it always fascinated me how
something was always someone else's fault.
"No one can deny that slavery
existed or that racism and prejudice still exist. But
we have a choice as to how we deal with those things."
Nigerian-born David Oyelowo, who plays
Pascale, admitted: "I don't think some of the things
said in the film would be able to be said if it was
by a white person.
"This is a real hot potato and
there will be people up in arms about it but I am very
happy to stand by the film in terms of the issues it
raises."
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