It didnt even dawn on me that the Oscar nominees this year were SO WHITE. Maybe I am colorblind but I didnt even notice until I was on twitter and it was blowing up with the hashtag Oscars So White (#OscarsSOwhite). As I went back and looked through all the nominations, it was true…where was all the diversity that it supposed to reflect the melting pot that is America?
I know there is a HUGE backlash about the fact there are no African American nominees this year. I agree, there should be. But what about the Chinese? Latinos? Middle Easterners? Indians? What about that part of our country? Are they also part of the #OscarsSOwhite outrage or are we specifically talking about African Americans? Let’s examine how truly diverse our country really is…
According to United States Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, Retrieved October 22, 2014:
“White Americans are the racial majority. African Americans are the largest racial minority, amounting to 13.2% of the population. Hispanic and Latino Americans amount to 17.1% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority. The White, non-Hispanic or Latino population make up 62.6% of the nation’s total, with the total White population (including White Hispanics and Latinos) being 77.1%.”
So who exactly falls into the ambiguous “White American” category? Would a Russell Crowe fall into “White American” when in fact he is Australian who sometimes does not speak with an accent depending on his role? Would the Ukranian Mila Kunis fall into this same category when she speaks fluent Russian but has whitish skin? To me, Mila Kunis is a rare role model for young Russian girls who aspire to act, yet we hardly see the media check into her cultural practices. So is the fact that we think the Oscars are lacking diversity solely due to the nominations or perhaps is it because we as media have failed to shine light on these celebrities roots because we care more about what they are wearing and who they are or are not dating?
So getting back to the topic at hand, should we be outraged that there has been a very short list of Hispanic or Asian(ish) actors that have been nominated and even smaller number who have won an Oscar since the inception of the Oscars? I mean, it seems so clear that it was very much an Oscars So White kind of nomination this year. I applaud the Academy President Cheryl Issacs with inviting 322 new members into the Academy to help diversify the membership which in turn should diversify the nominees and winners, right? What was the racial breakdown of the new members? Are they thinking about adding a some new categories to ensure diversity, much like how R & B is a standard category predominately dominated by African Americans in music awards?
The Oscars appear to be dealing with the same issues the MTV awards dealt with in the 80s…#MTVsoWHITE, if hashtags were around. At that time the late David Bowie was the whistleblower. He reprimanded MTV about not featuring black artists and following “money” instead. Is that what is happening to the movie industry now? Is it more financially beneficial to film “white” movies? This is a question that should be raised to studio execs. If it is, is it their fault for chasing after the money?
This topic really resonates with me because as a Asian, or more specifically a half Chinese, Half East Indian woman, I have very few if any role models to look up to in my field of television. I align more with my Indian heritage and there are NO mainstream entertainment hosts for me to mirror or solicit as a mentor. I am driven by the idea that I could trail blaze for other Desi girls in America like I did at Miss America. I was the first Indian to compete on the Miss America stage, pretty cool if you ask me. Since then there has been a speckling, which is very exciting. For the younger generation that aspires to the acting world, we owe it to them to have a racially diverse celebrity conglomerate to look up to so that they all have someone to aspire to be. After all, isn’t that how dreams are made? So who else thinks that its time to get rid of the vision of Oscars So White with me?