Vin Diesel, you need to be careful. Don’t worry about fighting evil spies or ferocious flying aliens. You need to keep your eyes out for . . . .THE BLACK COMMUNITY!
YOU KNOW THE old saying, “it takes one to know one”? Well, you are one. One of us, that is. The Rock, Jennifer Beals, Tiger Woods - none have been able to escape! And you’re next.
Despite playing an Italian in “Saving Private Ryan” and a Cuban in “The Fast and the Furious” or your evasive answers about heritage, it seems like you may be ready to join the dark side. Why else would you start competing with Denzel Washington to play historical African general Hannibal? Don’t you know that playing historical Black figures is the best way to get an NAACP Image Award? You must be Black!
So is Diesel really hiding anything? To his credit, his role in “The Boiler Room” was vaguely Black. Diesel admits to having a Black stepfather (which alone does not make you Black, to the chagrin of many White teenagers hoping for street cred) and also considers himself “multiracial” — a term that skillfully avoids the less polite term “mixed” as well as it also avoids the real question.