Özdemir 1

Ömer D. Özdemir
Kara McCormack
AMER-195-1
Assignment 6
22.12.18

#OscarsSoWhite

Vijayan, Suchitra. “#OscarSoWhite: Only 14 African-American Actors Have Received Oscar.” Deccan Chronicle, (2017).

On this article one of the biggest and also one of the most discussed happenings which occurred in the years of 2015

and 2016 is briefly explained by Suchitra Vijayan. This happening is about Oscars and their nominations which all of

the whites. According to Vijayan, Academy which gives Oscars made this deliberately. She emphasis in her article that

this act of Academy was a racist act made to all African-Americans and she argues that “Racism is murderer of the

truth”. She also suggests that how “racism ends imagination”. In addition to this, in her article, she complains about the

view to all African-American artists. She talks about this view as “Stranger” and how they have to cope with it. To sum

up, she effectively points out many aspects of this horrifying event happened in the United States and she tries to show

people how the things are going in

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Izundu, Chi Chi. “Oscars So White: What People Are Saying about Diversity in Hollywood.” BBC, (19 Jan. 2016).

On this article actions and thoughts of some celebrities about the whiteness of Oscars are put together and discussed

by Chi Chi Izundu. One of these celebrities given as examples is David Oyelowo. Oyelowo says about this whiteness that

“TV and cinema are ignoring black actors and actresses”. Idris Elba is also one of the names in the article and he says

that “people who are black are lack of opportunities in film and TV industry”. In addition to these, Izundu who is the writer

of the article gives the action of director Spike Lee which is not attending Oscars anymore as an example response to

Oscars. Chi Chi also adds these sayings her thoughts by pointing out the day of discussions made on this topic which is

Martin Luther King Day. The day pointed out by Izundu is very ironic since the one who is honored on this day is actually

one of the biggest African-American rights activist but people are even still discussing on this significant day right of

African-Americans and the manners against them. All in all, Chi Chi meticulously ligatures many opinions on this annoying

issue to show people that they are not the only ones who get disturbed about this.
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Cox, David. “#OscarsSoWhite: who is really to blame for the Oscars' lack of diversity?” The Guardian, (26 Feb. 2016).

This article is mainly focusing on to find responsible for Oscar’ whiteness. Cox who is the writer of the article argues by

giving some important examples and numbers that “we are responsible for this, it is not the Oscars that need to change. It

is us.” In one of the numbers given by Cox, he points out that “only 2% of the Academy’s voters are black”. Hence, he

suggests people not to expect much winner or nominee for Oscars until they put much more African-American voters for

Oscars. He also gives an example notion for this issue which is “racial empathy gap”. He explains this as lack of

understanding of some problems or cultural differences between races. Hence, he also argues that “the Oscars may not be

fully anti-black, but they are definitely hideously white until they are changed” to show this racial empathy gap. To

considering all, Cox is not actually trying to find a guilty because he knows who is guilty. Actual responsible for this lack is

people who do not support African-Americans in normal life until something big like Oscars happened. This article’s main

purposes actually is creating a mirror for society to show them how they insidiously act.
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Considering all of the articles and their writer’s arguments on the issue of whiteness of Oscars, this issue is not only

important for African-Americans and their rights but it is also significant for all of the American society. Since it can be

understood via these three articles that how American society come together on one big issue and how they create different

reactions and thoughts on the same issue. The reason for this diversity is American population itself. Since as it can be

guessed through this Oscar example that American society has a very diverse set of thoughts, acts, and lives. Combination

all of diversity makes America a great example of how a big country can be evolved from a shattered society. To sum up, it

is obvious that America is not only a country where people have different opinions America is also a country where those

opinions can be discussed as the way people want to discuss them and this can also be seen through the example of Oscar.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Vijayan, Suchitra. “#OscarSoWhite: Only 14 African-American Actors Have Received Oscar.” Deccan Chronicle, (2017).

Izundu, Chi Chi. “Oscars So White: What People Are Saying about Diversity in Hollywood.” BBC, (19 Jan. 2016).

Cox, David. “#OscarsSoWhite: who is really to blame for the Oscars' lack of diversity?” The Guardian, (26 Feb. 2016).