“BEGGING FOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT DIMINISHES DIGNITY...”
#OscarsSoWhite trended on social media last week after a number of black Oscar hopefuls, including "Beasts of No Nation's" Idris Elba; "Creed" star Michael B. Jordan; that movie's writer-director, Ryan Coogler; and the cast of N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton" were overlooked by academy voters. "We cannot support it and [I] mean no disrespect ... But, how is it possible for the second consecutive year all 20 contenders under the acting category are white? And let's not even get into the other branches...Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all. We can't act?! WTF!!" --Spike Lee "Today is Martin Luther King's birthday, and I can't help but ask the question: Is it time that people of color recognize how much power, influence, that we have amassed, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?" she said."Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are a dignified people, and we are powerful," she said. "So let's let the Academy do them, with all grace and love. And let's do us, differently."--Jada Pinkett Smith Boycott Oscars this February over lack of diversity in nominations.