Thursday, July 21, 2016
Emmy’s Diversity: People of Color Represent 25% of Acting Nominations
Variety: For the second year in a row, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences can laugh at movies’ #OscarsSoWhite problem. Actors of color nabbed 18 of the major 73 acting nominations in the categories of lead and supporting performers in drama, comedy, and limited series. That’s just shy of 25%, and even an improvement over last year’s historic Emmys, where 16 actors of color were among the 75 nominees.
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There are so many factors that could be discussed as to why this statistic is the reality of media, but what I honestly am wondering about as we continue to hear about this issue is simply why a great portion of the population still accepts this as the way of things. This article is written with the enthusiasm and drive of someone who has given up on this as an issue that can be solved. Of course this is something that can be solved, but to do it we need to keep fighting for it. This is not a job for any race, it is a job for all humans, and one that I do believe we are up to. In recent months we have seen latent racism and bigotry come out of the woodwork in all aspects of life, which is of course a terrible thing. However, the response, particularly among young people like myself, has been personally inspiring, and it is creating ripples we can use to keep eliminating bias where we can see it. That being said, we have to actually acknowledge the biases that exist, and believe we can change it in order to actually affect change.
As a person of color, the lack of representation in the entertainment world is appalling to me. Some people have been saying that a record number of persons of color were nominated for this years Emmy’s, yet it is still not enough people nominated to show the work that colored entertainers put in. The statement made about how it was interesting that majority of the people of color that were nominated, were nominated for lead roles. When I read this I thought about how perhaps there reason that this was done was to please the masses. By nominating people of color in leading roles, there is a belief that this will make people happy. It does not, it draws more attention to the fact that there are many people of color working in the entertainment industry, and that they need to start getting the recognition that they deserve.
This article is very depressing for me to read. To see this very small "improvement" to an already low percentage is awful. The amount of movies and shows that I watch with spectacular acting from a man or woman of color is very large and they go under appreciated. This is mostly because of media and how blinded it makes people, but it's also because of how white-washed Hollywood. Getting casted is hard enough for a person of color and even more hard to get proper recognition. People need to be respected for the work that they are doing and we all have to be the voice to show how manipulative and blinded people can be. Last year, I was so excited to know that Chris Rock is hosting the Oscars, knowing about this fiasco. I love Chris Rock and know that he never holds back on anything. But I was truly disappointed to see him showing compassion to both sides of the debate. Of course he was aware and upset about the conflict, but he didn't express it to the point of there being a serious discussion afterwards. And I think we as a society need to be the ones to speak out and discuss the discrimination that's happening.
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