Black/White Again & Palin/Trump

Black/White issues again. This time we have Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee boycotting the Academy Awards because they feel that Blacks have been slighted in this year’s award nominations. A repeat of last year, they say, when it too was an all-white nomination list. This year, they point to the absence of Will Smith for his role in Concussion and Idris Elba for his role in Beasts of No Nation, for the absence in the best film category of Creed and Straight Outta Compton. Is it possible that there were other male and female actors—White, Blue, Red, Green, or Ochre—whose performances were better than that of Will Smith and Idris Elba? Is it possible that neither Creed nor Straight Outta Compton were as good as those other films nominated? For that matter, the definition of racial Blackness is no longer very clear in today’s world in which we have all shades of white and brown. What exactly is a Black? How Black must one be to be considered Black? In the very old ugly days, even one drop of Negro blood in your system made you black even though you appeared whiter than that Disney girl named Snow. I ask again, what exactly is a Black? There are currently 6200 Academy Award voters—94% white, 77% male. Many in the industry feel that’s an unfair distribution, not enough females, not enough “people of color.” (What a cute, inaccurate euphemism!) All right, so, should the numbers reflect the actual percentages of women in the country or women in the movie industry? The percentage of Blacks in the country or Blacks in the industry? And if we use these parameters for nominating actors and films for the Academy Awards, maybe we should do the same for the NFL and the NBA. Only 13% of professional football and basketball players can be Black; the other 87% must be made up of “People of Other Colors.” I think it will be nice when we finally get to the time when skin hue is no longer considered in any aspect of society.

Sarah Palin is now stumping for Donald Trump. Whoa, now there’s a match made in heaven. At least, Saturday Night Live would think so. Wouldn’t SNL be delighted if Trump were nominated and he chose Palin as his running mate? Tina Fey would be dancing at the thought. John McCain learned what a mistake she was, but Trump probably doesn’t even remember that political fiasco. I also noted in the news that the British would like to ban Trump from ever entering their country. Let him build his great, high wall not just to keep aliens out but to keep him in.