Who doesn’t mourn the passing of the brilliant Sidney Poitier?

Tributes have been pouring in to celebrate his trailblazing career as the first black male star in American film history, and as a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, and as the recipient of innumerable awards for his many acting and human rights contributions. These include the Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field in 1964 — the first black performer to win an Oscar since Hattie McDaniel got Best Supporting Actress for Gone With the Wind in 1939 — a British knighthood in 1974, and the Medal of Freedom in 2009. “Groundbreaking” is the most-used word in celebrating the life of Poitier, and no one can deny that he earned it.

But it would hurt me to think that he’s mainly remembered in solemn terms as an important figure because he “paved the way” for other black actors to follow, though it’s undeniable that he did. As Denzel Washington put it when he got his own Best Actor Oscar for Training Day in 2002, the first black man after Poitier to win the award, “I’ll always be chasing you, Sidney. I’ll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I’d rather do. . . . ”