Charles S. Dutton's Black Separatist Miniseries Worries HBO
Date: Tuesday, May 02, 2006
By: EURweb.com

Consider the plot of the forthcoming 10-hour miniseries being developed by actor Charles S. Dutton for HBO: African Americans in a black separatist movement are given their own state within the U.S. under a multibillion-dollar reparations package.

But...

The new state must only take in the poor, imprisoned and downtrodden blacks in the U.S. The theme of the series is supposed to ponder the possibility of blacks prospering in an environment where there is no white man to blame for their predicament.       

"HBO seems a little afraid of it; it's very provocative,” the actor tells entertainment columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith. The cable network reportedly wants Dutton to write the story as a novel first before moving forward with a miniseries.      

Dutton says that other networks have expressed interest in airing the project as is, and he will soon decide whether to stay with HBO or move on.      

"With this, I'm holding up a mirror to society, and every aspect of the story actually has a historical precedent," Dutton said of the project.