Chris Rock on Equality
By Cameron Hertzog
The Oscars is a magical night to appreciate and acknowledge magical people.
This year’s Oscar ceremony was hosted by none other than stand-up comedian Chris Rock.
Many Oscar winners take their speech and 30 seconds of glory and recognition to bring attention to issues that are near and dear to their heart. Chris Rock took that to another level. He used his entire monologue to talk about the prevalent racism problem in Hollywood.
He welcomed guests to the “White People’s Choice Awards”, as he called it instead of the Oscars, and that was just the beginning. His soldiered on through the muffled and not so muffled laughs and continued to talk about the racism that black actors face in Hollywood.
He talked about the ‘50s and ‘60s saying that it didn’t really bother anyone back then that there were no black people up for nominations because well, “we had real things to protest at the time.”
“We were too busy being lynched and raped to worry about who won best cinematography. When your grandmas swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about best documentary short.”
He held nothing back. He goes on saying that black actors get a great part in a film every once and a while when Leonardo Di Caprio gets a good part every year.
On the last few days of Black History Month the all-white line-up of Oscar nominees did not look that great. Rock wasn’t calling for preferential treatment, but merely equal opportunity for roles that are available to black actors.
This is a fair request in an industry that is still heavily influenced by the white male and a fan base that stands behind that. Take Di Caprio for instance, an enormous fan base has rallied behind him for years calling for him to earn the Oscar and recognition that they believed he deserved.
This is not to say that Leo is not a talented and accomplished actor, but why is there not the same sort of support for black actors, or any other minority actors?
Di Caprio had a lot of good things to say in his acceptance speech about climate change, a noble cause, and a very important.
Chris Rock was calling for a change in our culture. He wasn’t just speaking about the racism in Hollywood but racism in popular culture as well. Hollywood reflects pop culture, so it was a call to change pop culture.
The question is, is this call to change going to be heeded by our culture. Or will the wheels keep turn at the same rate and pace. Are these signs that change is coming?
All questions next year’s Oscars might answer.