'Dear Hollywood': Black Writers' association pens open letter, demands diversity in hiring

Following the Black Lives Matter movement across the world, the Writers Guild of America West's Committee (WGAW) of Black Writers penned an open letter to Hollywood on Friday, June 12 calling for the industry to abolish practices of only hiring from exclusive lists and demanding systematic change.

The writers, in the letter, said that they are "grieving, angry and unapologetically demanding systematic change" in the way black writers are hired in the industry.

The letter demands that entertainment studios adhere to their statements of support for black voices and abolish the practice of hiring writers from very exclusive lists, saying that too often black writers are considered unable to write for the mainstream, but white writers are all too frequently called upon to tell black narratives.

The writers emphasised, "It is not just the future of our industry or our livelihood as writers, but our very lives as Black Americans that depend on you listening thoughtfully to what we have to say in response."

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The writers ask that studios "abolish" thier standing hiring practices and "expand their circle" if they don't know any Black writers. "Hollywood, what you do next is paramount. As the most powerful entertainment industry in the world, we challenge you, the powers that be, those individuals with unmistakable privilege, the elite executives who gave the OK on those statements, to begin instituting real systematic change."

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Calling for action, not words, they told industry leaders that “either you commit to a new, institutionalised system of accountability with and to Black writers, or you prove that you’re putting on just another strategic, virtue-signaling performance deemed necessary to survive the times.”

The writers called the current social and political scene in this country a 'reckoning', going on to acknowledge how the COVID-19 pandemic has left millions unemployed and uninsured, especially Black Americans. "This pandemic has been a somber backdrop for recent protests honoring George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black people murdered in this country by state-sanctioned violence and racist discrimination," the letter added.

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Earlier, actor Michael B Jordon had called on Hollywood studios, agencies and industry insiders to invest in black staff. During a protest against systemic racism and police brutality organised by the Big 4 agencies in the wake of Floyd's death, the Creed star asked the people in the movie business to commit to hiring more black people.

There has been a brewing outrage regarding institutionalised racism since last month when George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died on May 25 in Minneapolis, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes in an encounter caught on video. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with murder and manslaughter.

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