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SNLs Diversity Issue “Solved” With Single Hire? By. Sarah Brokenborough C’2016 NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) has been on-air for almost 40 years. However, up until the recent hire of Sasheer Zamata, there have only been 15 cast members of African descent. Of those 15 only four have been black women: Yvonne Hudson (1980- SI), Danitra Vance (1985-86), Ellen Cleghorne (1991-95), and Maya Rudolph (2000-2007). Even though Kenan Thompson, the longest black show member to date, stated that he will no longer dress as women on the show in protest of the show’s lack of black female cast members, he blamed SNL’s lack of diversity on the lack of quality black female comedians. Since 2007 when the show lost Maya Rudolph, whose versatility, talent, and melanin were used to portray her as white, Asian, Latina, and Black all with a change of a wig, SNL has gone seven years without a single black female comedienne on the show. SNL relies on what they believe to be is a tried and true method of finding new black cast members. They find a reliable, relatively young, and unknown actor or actress in the New York Area whose credentials can be backed up by some member of the already established cast. Then they make sure he or she can do a myriad of impersonations, an essential skill because he or she will be relied on to impersonate any and all types of black people, without objection. Zamata is a veteran of The Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York City, which has long been recognized as a feeder of sorts for the show. Instead of looking elsewhere for black actors and actresses, possibly Atlanta, the mecca of black entertainment, or Hollywood, they have chosen to stay in their comfort zone and hope for talent women of color to come to them. “I think it’s great that there’s a new black actress on SNL,” said Karys Belger, Sophomore English major at Spelman College. “But I think it’s sad that discrimination is so prevalent that we feel the need to celebrate these small victories.” Zamata debuted on January 18th of this year with Drake as the host and musical guest. Although her first skit had her act as Drake’s auntie she seemed to be treated more as a prop than a character. However, to be fair it is common for new cast members to have non speaking parts and little airtime. Besides Zamata’s role as Rihanna, all her characters were race neutral during her debut show. Hopefully she will continue to play memorable characters besides the expected black celebrity impersonations. Zamata’s hire is an important step towards the visible representation of people of color in the media. We all want her range to shine through instead of being typecast and performing as the token minority. I Listen By: Paris Clark C2015 His melody It excites me... I cant wait to listen It lulls me into a calm trance That hypnotizes me into a world wind of peace That sound is the background to my dream. I dance to the up beat I sway to the low beat And I walk towards you when I hear... A slight pause... In my ear... And then I wake up! You’re still sleeping I love to listen to your heart The BluePrint SpelmanPaper@gmail.com Feb/March 2014 19