"Precious" quote misrepresented

“Precious” quote misrepresented

I was misquoted in the otherwise-lovely article “’Precious director takes issues head on” by Chinmayi Sharma (Sept. 23). I did not say there is “pressure for more exaggerated images of the respectable black American” or that Daniels’ film “Precious” is, contrary to that pressure, “purely honest.” What I said is that “Precious” is one of several films by this extraordinary director and producer that, with great artistry, depict human life at its most desperate, along with people’s seemingly hopeless efforts to transcend. I do not believe that the character and events depicted in “Precious” are novel in their honesty about black America or that they are representative of African-American life. African Americans are a highly diverse population—in class, character and conduct. In fact, I think that the small minority of African Americans made up by child-abusers, rapists, incest victims and HIV carriers is vastly over-represented in the media, because those images sell.

J. Lorand Matory,

Lawrence Richardson Professor of Cultural Anthropology and of African and African American Studies

Director, Center for African and African American Research