Here is why Cynthia Erivo, in particular, should not play Harriet Tubman.

TL; DR: There’s a troubling pattern of Cynthia repeatedly, deliberately, selectively *choosing* to not give respect to African-American heritage – the heritage of Harriet Tubman.
#HarrietDeservesBetter Note: There’s an argument to be made against Africans/non-DOS Brits playing important African-American figures – & vice versa. Performance & perspective, where & how we take up space, larger economic & cultural issues at play.

Others have unpacked that; this thread won’t.

The framing of @paularogo's @Essence piece on Cynthia Erivo is…interesting.

This response will be a long thread bc it's impt that:
◾️we step back to analyze the larger narrative that's being created ◾️Essence is aware that we're aware of deliberate editorial decisions.

https://twitter.com/Essence/status/1040706829393780738

And to expand on point about potential context: She might've even looked into the data or done a quick tally herself of prestige dramas (particularly historic fiction) to see what the breakdown is of non-African American Blacks portraying African-Americans over the last 10 yrs