The apology tour now has a senior citizen ticket. Rita Moreno, a legendary Puerto Rican actress, put her white foot in her white mouth on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert discussing claims of colorism in the Amazon Prime musical In The Heights.
Moreno, a white woman, parroted the same thing white people have said for eons about the rights and underrepresentation of Black people since the civil rights movement, “Well, I’m simply saying, can’t you just wait a while and leave it alone?”
Yes. She said that.
Moreno, whose career was built when Hollywood regularly put white actors in blackface and used every other offensive makeup technique, said that.
In The Heights takes place in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York. In real life, the area is full of Afro-Latino presence. You’d never know that from watching the musical, though.
Director John Chu and Lin-Manuel Miranda had already addressed the colorism issue (unsatisfactorily), but Moreno decided to pick at the scab on Colbert’s show. She brought up criticism of Lin- Manuel Miranda when there was no question pending about him nor the film.
“Can we talk for a second about that criticism about Lin-Manuel? That really upset me,” Moreno asked Colbert.
Colbert was initially talking to her about her own career accomplishments. Instead of having enough sense to bask in that, Moreno decided to open the box of matches that would eventually set her own proverbial house on fire.
“You can never do right, it seems,” Moreno continued. “This is the man who literally has brought Latino-ness and Puerto Rican-ness to America. I couldn’t do it. I mean, I would love to say I did, but I couldn’t.”
First of all, the lack of fact in that statement is galling. Before Hamilton, the only Latinos Miranda fans knew was Carmen. But, we did know Rosie Perez, Raul Julia, and Benecio del Toro. Second of all, the self-ownage involved in downplaying your own significance as a Puerto Rican EGOT winner is weird. Thirdly, the gaslighting in pretending that the outcry is the product of some overly sensitive cell group is a problem.
You can indeed do right, but erasure will never be right.
It’s the condescension for us. Rita Moreno (how ironic) and her friend Lin-Manuel are not six. They know that Latin America is racially diverse. They know Black Latinos exist. They know Washington Heights is full of them. But, they decided to play the dual role of white people when confronted with their own racism and white Latinos when confronted with their own colorism.
They should both win an Academy Award with those performances.
Just because it’s 2021, Rita Moreno apologized for the way white people who get caught slipping always do.
I’m incredibly disappointed with myself. While making a statement in defense of Lin-Manuel Miranda on the Colbert Show last night, I was clearly dismissive of black lives that matter in our Latin community. It is so easy to forget how celebration for some is lament for others.
— Rita Moreno (@TheRitaMoreno) June 17, 2021
In addition to applauding Lin for his wonderful movie version of In The Heights, let me add my appreciation for his sensitivity and resolve to be more inclusive of the Afro-Latino community going forward. See, you CAN teach this old dog new tricks – RITA
— Rita Moreno (@TheRitaMoreno) June 17, 2021
In conclusion, the same woman who was “forced” to don blackface in her role in West Side Story and claimed she resented it should have done a lot better if she wanted to address colorism…or said nothing.
