And this is best illustrated by the fact that, before ten years ago, there were almost no Black stuntwomen, or hair and makeup people, to think of.

Without Black stuntwomen (or women who could do Black hair and makeup), it severely limited the number of Black women who got cast in certain types of movies (like Action, Horror, and Westerns). Some of them simply didn't want to do them, or the casting people never thought about hiring them. There were so few Black women as stunt people that whenever a Black woman infrequently showed up on an Action film set, the stuntmen had to appear in Blackface! There were so few people who knew how to style Black women's hair and makeup that the actresses complained they had to do it themselves.

This is definitely a case where the more diversity there was behind the cameras, the more progress ended up getting made in front of the camera. I don't know if there's parity now, but I have seen more Black women in Action, SciFi, and Horror roles, especially in the last 8 years, (since Black Panther) , and I've heard a lot fewer complaints from them about their hair and makeup.

I am now a lot less concerned with what's in front the camera now than what's behind the camera. We need more women and PoC creating the stories we're seeing.