Swinging Bridge Magazine: February 2019

Page 18

CULTURE

AWARD SHOWS: NOT SO BLACK & WHITE

BY CHARMAINE LIM

#OscarsSoWhite, they asked to touch my hair. — APRIL REIGN @ReignOfApril

T

hese are the words that sparked a viral Twitter conversation back in 2015. The writer of this tweet, April Reign, wrote it in response to the announcement of that year’s Oscar nominees. In the categories of Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress, all the nominees were Caucasian.

The hashtag produced thousands of tweets from other people who were tired of seeing predominantly white actors and actresses being nominated during big film awards shows, like the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Many people on the Internet began calling for more recognition of diversity in film and television. In the years following, awards shows saw an increase in actors of color being nominated. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, instituted several changes to these awards shows. She made a promise to double the membership numbers of women and people of color in the Academy by 2020,

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FEBRUARY 2019

giving hope to many that these changes will truly come into effect. Why is this still relevant five years later? Because the promise of diversity isn’t just about teaching Hollywood to acknowledge diversity, but also for us to realize what that recognition means. Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar. Her award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1939 came 13 years after the Oscars began, also making her the first African American to be nominated for acting. It wasn’t until 1963 that Sidney Poitier would be the first African American man to win Best Actor, and 2001 that Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win Best Actress. It took 36 years for a black man and 74 years for a black woman to win awards in the biggest acting categories at the Oscars. If it has taken that long for African American actors to gain recognition for their hard work, isn’t it something we should


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