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1.
It's okay. Made my own! pic.twitter.com/kgyu1GRHGR
— philip lord (@philiplord) January 15, 2015
2.
The official erasure of U.S. history to make way for white forgiveness (of course) is recurring and legitimate cause for concern. In the lesser context of music and entertainment, hip-hop has been waging wars against revisionism since the wayback dayz of Chuck D vs. Elvis. Mind you, hip-hop has been losing this war since The Fugees lost Album of the Year to Celine Dion. (Seventeen years later, I wrote about Kendrick Lamar losing best rap album to Macklemore.) Year after year, the big lesson seems to be: We're furious at [network televised awards ceremony], and [network televised awards ceremony] has no idea why, nor could they care any less; the men in tuxes are there for a night of gift bags and pigs-in-blankets.
Much like the Grammys, the Oscars are not a credible exercise. In critical retrospect, many of the committee's nominations don't hold up; films and actors that win their categories often fail the test of time. The Oscars are an ostensibly desegregated networking soiree hosted by a trade association. Its prestige is an act of marketing, hence the attendees being overdressed for a ceremony that is overproduced.
If you think Selma not winning an Academy Award somehow mitigates the work of either Ava DuVernay or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., you may be suffering from an unhealthy relationship with televised spectacle and the media you consume. Read a novel or something.
If I were to win an Oscar for whatever reason, I would smelt the gold and recast it as a Cuban link, which I would wear on the 6 train, to the office, to my gym, and all over Manhattan. Note that I couldn't actually do this, however, because Oscars aren't made of gold; they're made of britannium because (I repeat) Oscars are #trash.
White power mutes black vantages every day. The boldest artists, fans, and insurgent critics are waging the long war, desegregating genres and industry by creative force. In the meantime, we have alternative channels for our rage, and better ways to spend our time. Not to boycott a ceremony so much as to ignore yet another shameful mess of a Hollywood stage. Deny the Oscars your time and obsession. Spend the night at a theater watching Selma, if you (like I) haven't seen it already. Or change your television's channel. Unplug. Turn off that motherfucking radio.