When People of Color Are Discouraged From Going Into the Arts
The lack of diversity in Hollywood presents an opportunity to reflect on barriers in academia.
When I was 10, my friend’s mother, who was a script supervisor for the sitcom Designing Women, asked me to audition for a part on the show. The role was that of a Vietnamese boat child named Li Sing, who Suzanne Sugarbaker (Delta Burke) agrees to foster for a few weeks. The casting director was having trouble finding enough Asian child actors to audition for the role.
I’d never acted before, and I remember rehearsing the script in the car on the way to the studio. I was supposed to be in Suzanne’s “powder room,” playing with all of her fancy
