During the final months of 2014, civil rights leader Al Sharpton was a prominent fixture at the demonstrations that spread across the U.S. after the police shooting of robbery suspect Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. When another black suspect suffered a heart attack in New York after police attempted to restrain him, Sharpton once again led protests against the perceived racism that led to his death.
While demonstrations stemming from these incidents are continuing into 2015, Sharpton wasted no time finding a new and tenuous angle on the story by connecting the recent nominees for this year’s Academy Awards to Ferguson. As Western Journalism reported, the fact that all of the honored actors on the list are white created a firestorm of criticism online.
Reporter Norvell Rose even predicted the issue would be “an irresistible siren call” for Sharpton.
That forecast became reality when he issued a statement regarding the “lack of diversity” among the nominees, calling the dearth of black actors “appalling.”
Specifically, he cited one critically acclaimed civil rights drama, suggesting black entertainers from that film should have been nominated.
“With all of the talent in Selma and other black movies this year,” he said, “it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations … than in recent history.”
He then linked his Hollywood hysteria to the anti-police protests he has been involved in since Brown’s death.
“In the time of Staten Island and Ferguson,” Sharpton said, “to have one of the most shutout Oscar nights in recent memory is something that is incongruous. The only category we’re well represented is in the best picture nomination and it’s a movie about blacks being shut out of society. And now we’re shut out of Hollywood.”
He concluded by comparing the movie industry to the Rocky Mountains, insisting that “the higher you get, the whiter it gets.”
Read more at http://www.westernjournalism.com/al-sharpton-manages-link-white-oscar-nominees-ferguson-protests/#lYPVatrFLjRaeDbB.99
“In the time of Staten Island and Ferguson,” Sharpton said, “to have one of the most shutout Oscar nights in recent memory is something that is incongruous. The only category we’re well represented is in the best picture nomination and it’s a movie about blacks being shut out of society. And now we’re shut out of Hollywood.”
He concluded by comparing the movie industry to the Rocky Mountains, insisting that “the higher you get, the whiter it gets.”
Read more at http://www.westernjournalism.com/al-sharpton-manages-link-white-oscar-nominees-ferguson-protests/#lYPVatrFLjRaeDbB.99
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