On #OscarsSoWhite, #NotYourMule and Inclusion
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When I woke up this morning, I thought that I’d be able to just bask in the post Spotlight wins Best Picture glow. But with the foolery that has transpired since last night with regards to #OscarsSoWhite.
Much of the conversation is being stemmed from the fact that Oscar host Chris Rock solely focused on the plight of black actors in his opening monologue. People were not happy with the fact he seemingly (purposefully in their minds) left out other groups. Actors such as Ming-Na Wen chimed in (although she’s deleted her tweets since then) and a new hashtag was generated today #onlyonepercent, to showcase that Asians only have 1% of the total Oscar nominations.
Now I am all for the creations of more hashtags as rallying cry. Y’all remember how everyone thought that #OscarsSoWhite was a Black Twitter thing but now the Academy has made significant changes and membership strides to make sure the pool is more inclusive for EVERYONE, not just black people? But to bemoan the fact that someone of an race/ethnic background not your own didn’t mention you is strange. All people of color were united under the #OscarsSoWhite umbrella and the creator has gone to great lengths to mention that it extends far beyond the black/white issue the media is turning it into. Even further, she has mentioned that it should extend as a call to rally for better roles for the LGBTQA community, disabled actors, and so on and so forth. Where oh where do you see this movement only being about one thing? And where do you find the nerve to derail a necessary conversation because one individual didn’t mention your plight?
Pretty sure @ReignOfApril called it #OscarsSoWhite not #OscarsArentBlackEnough. The call for broad spectrum of diversity was clear.
— Stacie Rose (@igotviews) February 29, 2016
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Furthermore, lets discuss the weird ramifications of this sort of hive mind attack. Why is it that everyone believes that others have to speak for them? This tweet perhaps puts it best.
We will stand with you. We will support you. We will be with you. But we will not carry you #notyourmule
— ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ (@naejasme) February 29, 2016
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I mean, we can just look at the presenters and winners last night. You had Priyanka Chopra (star of ABC’s biggest hit this year), Sofia Vergara, Benicio del Toro, Dev Patel, Emmanuel Lubezki winning his 3rd Oscar in a row, and Alejandro G. Inarritu became the first person since the 1950s to win back to back directing Oscars and he didn’t have shit positive to say about the hashtag. Any one of these fine and established individuals could have mentioned the diversity issues or the hashtag or created their own. But instead we’re having debates about who an inclusive movement is for, rather than rallying solely for inclusivity.
What makes this so sad is two-fold: 1) we will NEVER get anywhere if we don’t unify against the systems in place and 2) the burden that’s being placed on Black people is too high. We can’t be the ones leading a charge and also having to defend ourselves from attacks both in front and to the side of us. Everyone who wasted time tweeting about how their voices weren’t heard could be voicing their opinions in conjunction. Your actors/high profile celebrities could join in boycotting or you can make a new hashtag. I love #notyourmule because we all have a part to play in getting things to a better place, lets not put the burden on one race to do all the heavy lifting. The boulders we already carry are heavy enough.
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