Accusing Academy of Racism Is Both Unfair, Inaccurate

As a black radio journalist who has covered the entertainment industry for the past 10 years, I am personally and deeply concerned about the representation (or lack thereof) of people of color in films and television. I too was disappointed that no African Americans were nominated in the major categories for this year’s Academy Awards. Disappointed, but not outraged.

I do not believe the motion picture academy is a racist, old boys’ club committed to denying recognition to blacks. Indeed, many of the best and brightest African Americans in moviedom have been honored by Oscar over the past decade and a half: Whoopi Goldberg (two-time nominee, one-time winner), Morgan Freeman (three-time nominee), Denzel Washington (three-time nominee, one-time winner), John Singleton (nominated for best director the same year Barbra Streisand was overlooked as director of “Prince of Tides”), Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Rosie Perez, Dexter Gordon, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Adolph Caesar, Louis Gossett Jr. (best supporting actor for “An Officer and a Gentleman”), Prince (best score win for “Purple Rain”), Irene Cara (best song win for “Flashdance”), Janet Jackson (best song nominee for “Again”), Stevie Wonder (best song win for “I Just Called to Say I Love You”).

If anything, the absence of African American nominees this year is an Oscar aberration--the exception rather than the rule.

Still, the academy’s neglect of Don Cheadle’s stunning work in “Devil in a Blue Dress” is shocking. But it is not unprecedented and it is not about race. Critics from coast to coast raved over Minnie Driver’s performance in “Circle of Friends.” But when Oscar season rolled around the delightful British actress was left off the ballot.

Why wasn’t Denzel Washington nominated for “Crimson Tide” or “Devil in a Blue Dress”? Good question. Why wasn’t Gene Hackman nominated for “Crimson Tide” or “Get Shorty”? Another good question.

It is the nature of the Academy Awards that artistic excellence sometimes goes unrecognized. Maybe that’s because the Oscars are more like a political campaign than a legitimate “race.” Much of the responsibility lies with the studios, not the academy. Release dates, marketing strategies and promotion budgets all play an important role in who gets nominated and who doesn’t.

“Devil in a Blue Dress” would have benefited from a platform release (opening in a relatively small number of theaters, then expanding to more over several weeks). This would have allowed the film to develop a following--a la “The Postman (Il Postino)”--and be seen by more people (including academy members) who might not run out to see it in the first few weekends. Unfortunately, “Devil” was out of most theaters when it became time to compile the Oscar nominations and many academy members had simply not seen Don Cheadle’s work. Laurence Fishburne’s “Othello” suffered a similar fate.

According to the March 18 People magazine cover story, 20th Century Fox did not campaign very hard to get “Waiting to Exhale” nominated for Oscars. The studio sent 5,043 videos of “A Walk in the Clouds” to academy members for consideration. How many “Exhale” videos did 20th mail out? Zero. Since most academy members are white and many of the people who went to theaters to see “Waiting to Exhale” were black, it stands to reason that a comparatively small number of academy members ever saw Angela Bassett’s and Loretta Devine’s stellar performances. Or heard Babyface’s amazing music.

Accusing the Academy Awards of racism is unfair and inaccurate (“Jackson Protest Renews Debate on Race’s Role,” Calendar, March 19). However, African Americans and other people of color have many important grievances relevant to Hollywood (re: limited opportunities for technicians and executives, the size of production and advertising budgets, etc.). But these are non-Oscar issues and should be addressed separately with meaningful activism instead of a protest march that points the finger in the wrong direction and does nothing to bring about substantive change.