Why #OscarsSoWhite is a Necessary Evil

While watching the Oscars last Sunday night, I was shocked and in awe of Chris Rock’s sudden audacity at the topic of the lack of diversity at the Oscars. As I continued watching, I shared some laughs with my family as we watched Chrissy Teigen’s uncomfortable reaction to Rock’s monologue, but instead of sharing that same discomfort, I tried to look at it from his point of view — Chris Rock feels like Hollywood does not depict a correct view of humanity in terms of race. And he’s right.

“Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist…Hollywood is like ‘sorority racist.’ It’s like, ‘We like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa’” — Chris Rock

This is the second year that there have been no nominees for any of the four major categories for people of color. Rock began his hosting by calling the Oscars the “White People’s Choice Award,” and saying that there should be a category for “Best Black Friend.” Rock’s comparison of Hollywood to a sorority rings true for all.

The one place where I personally think Rock went wrong is when he brought the little Asian kids onstage as a joke to talk about Asian intelligence — if the Oscars this year was about diversity, then why make a joke at the expense of another minority? The point of this year’s Oscar, I personally though, was to show that the Academy was not only black and white (literally), but unfortunately, the grey areas seem to have vanished.

“Yes, the joke was lazy. But the bigger problem was that it played on Asian stereotypes on a night when diversity was a major focal point.”

says Alex Abad-Santos for Vox.com

Can we talk about Stacey Dash’s appearance on the Oscars stage? For those who don’t know, Stacey Dash played alongside Alicia Siverstone as Dionne in Clueless, and she came out to say hello and “happy Black History Month” to the crowd — the outcome of that being one of Chrissy Teigen’s unique facial expressions:

If it wasn’t already obvious, the thing that makes #OscarsSoWhite a bigger stab in the back to the black community is that it happened during Black History Month, which is a time when we are supposed to be honoring other cultures — something that we have failed to do greatly this year.

#OscarsSoWhite as a hashtag is what I believe to be a necessary evil, because it’s about time that we wake up and realize that segregation ended 52 years ago, and there’s no point in going backwards.