Eric July: Black Americans, Stop Begging for Acknowledgement

I’m not going to front, I know little about the nomination process of award shows. I also must admit that I do not care.

But here we go again. Yet another silly, non-issue or hypocritical notion based on race. This time around, there are stars such as Jada Pinkett-Smith calling for a boycott due to the lack of black Oscar nominations. This conversation became even more hyped when Stacey Dash made her comments on the issue.

I honestly don’t care to defend either side’s argument, but there’s one thing that bothers me about this entire ordeal.  A lot of people who claim to care so much about black advancement and black empowerment, simultaneously beg for acceptance by a culture that they claim goes out of its way to exclude them.

For the sake of conversation, let’s assume that black actors were purposely excluded from Oscar nominations because of their race. So what?

If this is the case, now you know. So why in the world would you want to be accepted or acknowledged by people who want little or nothing to do with you, or who treat you differently and unfairly solely because of your race? The boycott seems far more legitimate if the call-to-action is to branch off and do your own thing. But that’s not the conversation. This is simply begging to be included.

There are many talented black entertainers, actors, entrepreneurs, athletes, and celebrities. There are a lot of black Americans with plenty of resources and lots of disposable income that can be used to fund black efforts.  Black Americans can come up with their own award shows to acknowledge and reward their entertainers. But you don’t have to think that hard to understand there are plenty of award ceremonies that already have almost exclusively black nominations. So the question then becomes: What makes Oscar nominations more validating than those of the African American Film Critic Association’s? Nothing, other than perception.

Which means that these gripes highlight internal issues more than anything. If we truly have pride in who we are as African Americans, we should not need inclusion or acknowledgement from institutions or events that we claim would go out of their way to reward whites over blacks. Instead of having this mindset, blacks are upset because there has not been a proper amount of black Oscar nominations. I find irony in the fact that black folks want to disown folks like Stacey Dash because they are on the opposite end of this silly argument. I don’t understand how she can be considered a less-than-black person, yet one can be seen as an authentic black person even if they are begging to be accepted and included in affairs that they claim cater more to whites. It seems that many of my fellow black Americans are unknowingly putting more importance in Oscar nominations in comparison to the African-American Film Critics Association Awards. Why do efforts need validation if we truly have pride in them?

To be fair, this isn’t a gripe that is exclusive to black Americans. Many minorities fake their pride and beg for others to accept them.

For me personally, if you don’t want to include me in your affairs because I’m black, I’m not going to lose any sleep. The difference between 2016 and 1916, is that government mandated segregation. But today, the segregation is, for the most part, voluntary. Wouldn’t you rather someone tell you, straight up, that they feel a certain kind of way about you because of your race? Or would you rather they treat you as a token, which is a false sense of integration?

This is foolishness.
But, These are my thoughts.