Golden Statues, But No Black People

After reviewing the list of Academy Awards nominees for myself, the popular hashtag #Oscarssowhite that has been making waves on social media and the Internet, I must say, is a true statement.  The Oscars this year are as white as a Ku Klux Klan rally.

I find it quite astounding that Sylvester Stallone, who's white, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the film 'Creed' but the lead actor, Michael B. Jordan, who's black, was completely snubbed of a nomination for the same film.  Also, despite holding the number one spot at the box office for three weeks straight after its release into theaters on August 14, 2015, the only nomination that the N.W.A biopic 'Straight Outta Compton' received was for Writing-Original Screenplay for Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff who are both white.

The conversation of the "lack of diversity" at the Oscars that has dominated the Internet and television for the past few days is nothing new for those paying attention.  For years there has been an imbalance in diversity not only when it comes to white mainstream award shows, but Hollywood as a whole.

Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith and director Spike Lee have both publicly announced they will boycott the Oscars by not attending nor watching the show.  There was some chatter that Chris Rock, who is the esteemed host for the evening, felt some pressure to boycott as well.  Mr. Rock would later state that he will continue to host the 88th Academy Awards that will be held on February 28th.
 A major statement that Chris Rock could make is when the Oscars show begins, he comes on stage as normal, but substitutes being his expected comedic self and instead makes a bold proclamation that cuts to the heart of the lack of diversity in this years nominees and walk off the stage followed by a walk out of all the other black actors and actresses that are in attendance. 

Not that I would want anyone to break a contract or 'jeopardize their coins', but talk about taking a stand and it would all be live.

Now, that scenario is not likely to happen, but on a serious note, we as Black people
have to take some of the blame for the Oscars being so white.  A solution is, we need to flood the industry with good, quality Black films so much so that the Academy would not be able to ignore the contributions of people of color and not be able to shut us out.

I tweeted back on February 27, 2011 that "I personally would like for the Oscars to be completely flooded with black movies".  That was 5 years ago and it would seem that things are moving backwards instead of ahead.  To the Black people with the power to make it happen, it falls on your shoulders to make change.

Thanks for reading!
(John 3:16)