Why were all the holograms African-Americans?

there is probably some stupid edgy justification for it but i think it was because black was cool in the 70's most of the porn had negro's in it

Insert @V@T@R

Perhaps, Lucas wanted to tell subliminally that according to him, television and government is controlled by blacks who surpress the whites.
Consider also that Lando Calrissian was a traitor and Jar Jar Binks acts like a mean black cliché.

P.S.: I know that Lucas produced "Red Trails" about the all black Tuskegee airmen. But maybe he made that to hide his true thoughts about blacks.

I never got the impression anyone - including the black people - were Americans.

I don't recall seeing any black people in the movie, other than the holograms. I need to rewatch the movie again to be sure. Assuming so, then where did they go? Perhaps black people have been eliminated from this engineered society. And all that remains are the holograms they use for entertainment.

Ghosties? Spooks?

Please do not make negative comments about a film YOU NEVER SAW. It makes you look stupid.

[deleted]

It's an interesting question the various parties involved have never really addressed or attempted to answer. Certainly some of the posters here have suggested some good and perfectly plausible points; perhaps this was some kind of edgy statement on Lucas' part, some kind of smart-ass commentary on the media. Perhaps it's a deliberate 'non sequitur' meant to diddle with our attention, and make us say 'Wait...what?'. Perhaps it is just an attempt to be fashionable. Or, maybe it's really just a coincidence (a huge one, admittedly); there are some white people after all... the ones being beaten by the police androids. Is this 'White Guilt'? Are they really holograms? No one is saying.

As for Don Pedro Colley's 'SRT', I have often wondered, whether he really was a trans-substantiated hologram, or just an actor, who had done the Arm and Leg routine so long he really thought he was a hologram? Given Lucas' publicized attitudes towards actors (he prefers working with holograms) this represents an interesting problem. If SRT is a delusional human, this would tend to explain why he is wandering around the detainment facility. On the other hand, he seems to 'disappear' from the scene of his abortive motor-ride, like a program, suddenly crashing (hah). As Mr. Colley is not talking either, there are currently no definitive answers.

First of all, this is a visual movie and with whites in their white clothes and black (or brown really) people as holograms in a dark room makes for great visual contrast. We see lots of blacks and whites and silvers and stark contrasts like that throughout this picture. This is another.

Otherwise, I think it is likely a black people as entertainment kind of comment. Society seemed to be all white (maybe I missed a few), but the entertainment was all black. The white people were mostly cold characters (Pleaseance seemed, um, pleasant, hehe). They were conditioned by society to be that way. The blacks warm and friendly. However, only on the holographic images. As if to say, you can't enjoy friendliness in society, but you can be entertained by it.

All good things must come to an end - Chaucer