Gordon Parks, the first black photographer for Life magazine and the first black to direct a mainstream Hollywood film, thinks things will always be tough for blacks. Just don't use it as an excuse.
"The doors are more readily open for blacks getting into the arts today," Parks says in Sunday's Daily News. "But I'm afraid racism will never go away."The 84-year-old artist, novelist, director, photographer, composer, poet and screenwriter built his legendary career on some solid parental advice.
"My mom always said, `If you're going to be somebody, you have to want to be somebody,"' Parks said.