Unless you are on a tropical island where there are no cell phone, internet, cable TV or other media outlets (please tell me where this island is, I am jealous), you are probably aware of what is going on with the Oscars.

For those of you who don’t know, here is some background. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) presents awards for all aspects of motion pictures like acting, directing, editing etc. each winner is awarded a golden statue called the Oscar. The story is that a lady working at the company that was making the statue observed “Oh, this looks just like my uncle Oscar” and then the rest is history. This is the 88th year that the awards are being presented. But this year is particularly memorable because the nominees are all white (meaning they are Caucasian). African americans (black or people of color)  were not nominated in major categories. This has created an uproar among the black acting community. Many prominent black actors and actresses like Will Smith, Jada Pinkette-Smith, director, Spike Lee, former Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo have expressed their displeasure. Will and Jada have decided to boycott the ceremony all together and not even watch it. Will Smith went on ABC’s Good Morning America and complained that there is a systemic issue. Chris Rock, who will be hosting the show is black and he said that the Oscars are White BET awards (BET stands for Black Entertainment Television). The story was similar to last years awards. Last years host, Neil Patrick Harris also took a shot at the lack of diversity in the nomination by calling the ceremony the white Oscar ceremony. At the 74th awards, the best actor and actress winners were both black. I did not see white actors protesting. That year I also saw the movies that the best actor and actress winners were in. They both deserved to win Their performance by far was better than the other nominees in their categories.

Let us look at the facts. About 93% of the AMPAS members are white. About 77% are male. There are no black directors of the board. However, the president of AMPAS is African american. There are some sweeping changes coming to AMPAS. In the future we should see some diversity in the nominations.

Now I personally have not watched all the nominated films so I cannot comment on the acting skills of white or black actors and provide an opinion about whether they deserve to be nominated. But I feel that the Oscars are not a quota system where a certain number of people from each representative groups should be nominated. The nominations should be based on acting performance rather than the color of your skin or your ethnicity. If that is the case, then does a particular community (either black or white) be upset. What about ethnicity? Should Indian, Chinese or Japanese actors complain that they are not being represented? What about sexual preference? There is a huge movement going on in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. What about overweight people? Recently Sports Illustrated magazine featured a plus size model. Why only target the Oscars? For the longest time, People magazine has been choosing the world’s sexiest man alive. But for many years, their pool of contestants were North American and European celebrities. If they are truly choosing the sexiest man in the world, then shouldn’t they look at all men in the world before making their decision. Forget about all the men in the world, why only look at celebrities. I am sexy and I know it. Why not choose me? But jokes apart, I do feel that the Academy needs to reevaluate their nomination system. However, I do hope that they don’t do it as a knee jerk reaction. They have an opportunity to overhaul the make-up of the Academy. I hope they put some thought into it and make sure that their proposals also take into account all issues that I mentioned above. What they need is a long-term solution that will hopefully not offend any community.