Something is missing in the Oscars 2016

Hollywood's Academy Awards better known as The Oscars is whitewashed again. Whitewashed means all white, not a hint of color in the nominations except for the host Chris Rock. This is the 88th Academy Awards. This award show began in 1929 but was first televised in 1953. During the 88 years, this award show there has only been 30 African American actors and actresses that won an Oscar. Then there were numerous of years where between 1-5 African Americans was nominated for an award. And of course there were and still is the years of complete snubbing.

There were quite a few nominations. But the problem isn't who won and who lost. Sure those who lost, lost to movies that would have you scratching your head I  confusment. But that's not the issue at hand.

The problem is, the Oscars has been whitewashing and snubbing outstanding movies with African Americans. In the year 2015, there were great movies that should have gotten a nomination, such as "Beasts of No Nation" with Idris Elba, "Straight Out of Compton", "The Wiz: (The Muscial)" and "Creed". Now before you go off the handle and react, yes, I know "Creed" is nominated for an Oscar but it is Slyvester Stallone who is nominated for playing his reprising role as Rocky. They snubbed Michael B. Jordan for playing Adonis, Apollo Creed's son and the director and writer of the movie Ryan Coogler. Slyvester Stallone had won an awrd at the Golden Globes and didn't thank or mention Michael B. Jordan or the director Ryan Cooglar. But he gave reference and thanks to his character Rocky and his agency. REALLY? Then you have people making excuses for him by saying that he was caught up in the moment abd feeling overwhelmed. That's a bunch of crook. Slyvester Stallone has been in that position of receiving awards so many times, him getting caught up in the moment is just an excuse to give him a pass.

They snubbed the Live musical "The Wiz". Why? Who knows . Could it be, because of the all-black cast. There were uneducated people who casued an uproar because "The Wiz" was a blackout and saw it as an snub to the original movie "Wizard of Oz." Then they got schooled after learning that the remake of the the musical "The Wiz" wasn't from the "Wizard of Oz" but from the orginal musical "The Wiz" which was on broadway in 1978 with Diana Ross, Nipsey Rusell, Micahel Jackson and Ted Ross. "The Wiz" Live musical ratings were extremely high. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 91%. IMDb rated it 8.8/10 and was seen by 11.5 million viewers. When the show was rebroadcasted it was seen by 1.6 million viewers. But I guess that wasn't good enough to get an Oscar nomination.

What about "Straight Out of Compton"? The actors in the movie did an outstanding job reliving the time when West Coast ganagsta rap began to emerge. But somehow the Oscar nomination the movie received went to the writers Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff who is white! But yet the movie grossed over $200 million world wide. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie 88% and IMDb gave it a 7.4/10 and Cinema Score gave the film an A on a scale from A+ to F. I can't believe that they snubbed a black film by nominating the 2 white writers of the movie.But then again, this isn't anything new. So, I shouldn't be surprised that this has happened again.

And Idris Elba's"Beasts of No Nation" was a Netflix movie that everyone was talking about. Idris has received critical acclaim for his performance. And the movie received high ratings with 91% from Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.8/10 from IMDb. This has been an outrage for years. So many African Americans as well as white people have stopped watching the Oscars because of the constant disregard of eliminating black actors and actresses from nomination. Could this be part of the cause of the decline in viewers in recent years? Or could it be the Oscars is just completely boring? I think its both. This will never get better. The Oscars will continue to be whitewashed, snubbing out extraordinary black actors and actresses. Nothing can or will rectifiy this. No matter how hard black actors, actresses, writers, directors, songwriters, designers, etc work they will never be fully accepted by white Hollywood.

Here is a list of all African American actors who won an Oscar.

1. Hattie McDaniel--------Gone with the Wind------------                             1939

2. Sidney Poitier------------ Lilies of the Field--------------                            1963.

3. Issac Hayes----------------Shaft-----------------------------                            1971 (Original Score)

4. Louis Gossett Jr.---------An Officer and a Gentleman---                           1982

5. Irene Cara-----------------Flasdance------------------------                            1983 (Original Score)

6. Stevie Wonder------------The Woman in Red------------                            1984 (Original Score)

7. Prince----------------------Purple Rain---------------------                             1984 (Original Score)

8. Lionel Richie-------------White Nights--------------------                            1985 (Original Score)

9. Herbie Handcock---------Round Midnight---------------                             1986 (Original Score)

10. Russell Williams-----------Bird-----------------------------                          1988 (Best Sound)

                                               Glory----------------------------                          1989 (Best Sound)

                                               Dances with Wolves----------                          1990 (Best Sound)

11. Denzel Washington-----Glory------------------------------                           1989

12. Whoopi Goldberg--------------Ghost----------------------                            1990

13. Cuba Gooding Jr.--------Jerry Macguire-------------------                          1996

14. Denzel Washington-----Training Day--------------------                            1999.

15. Halle Berry---------------Monster Ball---------------------                           2001

16. Jamie Fox----------------Ray -------------------------------                            2004

17. Morgan Freeman---------Million Dollar Baby------------                           2004

18. Juicy J, Frayser, DJ Paul----Hustle and Flow------------                            2005 (Original Score)

19.Willie D. Burton-----------Dreamgirls----------------------                           2006 (Best Writing)

20. Forest Whitaker---------The Last King of Scotland-----                            2006.

21. Jennifer Hudson----------Dreamgirls----------------------                            2006

22. MoNique------------------Precious--------------------------                           2009

23. Roger Ross Williams---------------Music by Prudence-------                    2009 (Documentary)

24. Geoffrey Fletcher---------Precious-------------------------                           2009 (Best Writing)

25.Octavia Spencer----------The Help-------------------------                            2011

26. Lupita Nyong'o----------12 years a Slave-----------------                            2013

27.Director TJ Martin-------Undefeated----------------------                             2013

28. Steve McQueen-----------12 years a Slave----------------                            2013 (Best Picture)

29. John Ridley----------------12 Years a Slave---------------                             2013 (Best Writing)

30. Common and John Legend-Selma-------------------------                             2014 (Original Score)

Jean Hersholt Humaitarian Award

 Quincy Jones (1995 )

 Oprah Winfrey  (2011)

 Harry Belafonte  (2014)

Academy Honorary Award

 James Baskett ( 1948 )

 Sidney Poitier (2001 )

 James Earl Jones (2011)

Spike Lee (2015)