Idris Elba Doesn’t Want to Identify as a “Black Actor”

Our society’s continuous obsession into labelling things based on race has been detrimental in bringing about unity and concise debate. There’s no subtlety anymore, either you’re a racist or you’re not.

Idris Elba is lamenting the human ‘obsession’ with race, saying he no longer identifies himself as a “Black actor.” He gets it.

Elba told Esquire, in a rather stunning interview, that our current society is “obsessed with race,” and he does not want to be “put in a box” as an actor. That’s why he no longer identifies himself as a “Black actor.”

“If we spent half the time not talking about the differences but the similarities between us, the entire planet would have a shift in the way we deal with each other. “As humans, we are obsessed with race. And that obsession can really hinder people’s aspirations, hinder people’s growth.”

He added that, of course “racism is very real” and “should be a topic for discussions,” but that people give it way too much power these days .

“From my perspective, it’s only as powerful as you allow it to be. I stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realized it put me in a box. We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to. Our skin is no more than that: it’s just skin.”

“As you get up the ladder, you get asked what it’s like to be the first Black to do this or that. Well, it’s the same as it would be if I were White. It’s the first time for me,” he stated. “I don’t want to be the first Black. I’m the first Idris.”

Idris is correct. He wants to be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. Good for him. If everyone, white and black, thought this way, we'd be fine. The problem is that there are some powerful people who don’t want this to happen and want to keep the racial division alive.

Identity Politics is crushing society and dividing it into these aggressive factions. It seems as though some people’s goal in life is to point out diversity (in other words, pitting everyone against everyone else). They want to put everyone in their own little identity boxes, make everyone a minority inside one of these boxes, and then get us all rebelling against each other. Don’t take the bait. Idris hasn’t.