Breaking news! In response to last year’s hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy has once once again shown us colored folks exactly where we stand with them. Ordinarily I’d be shocked, as gangsta roles and other black stereotypes “real roles” seem to be a favorite in their world, but I guess Straight Outta Compton was too much for them. I mean, how dare we compare and contrast police brutality in the lower tiers of the plantation, and receive high praise from the white Americans who are intelligent enough to see that voting for a half-black president doesn’t cure racism, while paying tribute to some of the greatest pioneers of hip hop (you know, that culture everyone loves stealing) and for once have positive black images do well at the box office? But don’t be upset my dear, because it’s not just the movies. Matter of fact, Google the top 5 black shows on television (I’ll wait). Besides Black-ish, how many of them aren’t a bunch of stereotypical roles? It appears that The Color Purple and Roots simply weren’t enough, Hollywood only appears to be satisfied when we’re crying or dying. Which, in turn, only proves how racist they are. And we continue to enable this degeneracy by supporting it. Why?

Hattie McDaniel via BackThen.com

One can argue that the love for slave movies is the extreme liberal’s attempt to prove that they aren’t racist, because they “acknowledge” our history. But if this were really the case, why hasn’t there been any positive black historical pieces by these “conscious” filmmakers? We were much more than slaves and Moors (I have yet to see a movie on the Moors.) So why is it that the only positive films we are winning Oscars for are Negroes in pain, the only “strong, independent and successful” black women we see on TV is either a side chick to white president, an ex-con, a malicious lawyer who constantly screws over the only positive black guy on the show, or the stereotypical “angry black woman”? Don’t even get me started on their portrayal of the ideal black man, or should I say the ruthless hustler who struggles in the beginning with his baby mama, only to later to “leave her ass for a white girl” when he finds success with America? It really shouldn’t shock us anymore that we are our least threatening to them when we’re marching under the water of spraying hoses, we’re delivering some unintelligent quip as their comedic relief, or we’re a pregnant teen runaway who finds redemption through Cesare Borgia Jesus, or some other white savior.

David Oyelowo via Tumblr

These are the people we acknowledge as the face of blacks, created by black directors. Of course whites love it, they pay for it, which means those black directors will keep cashing in on it. Because it’s easy and a guaranteed paycheck. A vicious cycle. In the words of the most famous philosopher of our age: “They don’t want you to win”. But do we?

Written by Tiara Letrice, Staff Writer, #mygirlsquad