The 2016 award season has officially kicked off with the 73rd Golden Globes but it's not really the Golden Globes everyone cares about. It's the Academy Awards, or more commonly known as The Oscars, that really, truly matter. Well, at least it's the only award show that matters to me. From the time I was a child, the Oscars has been the only award show I watch from the red carpet appearances to the closing credits. On the Sunday of the Oscars, I eat dinner well before hand and plant myself in front of our TV, the DVR set so I don't miss a single moment. I love seeing who's nominated and what they're wearing and who wins an award.

But since I began high school, I started to notice the stark whiteness of the Oscars. It wasn't until I was about 15 that I truly began to think about the representation of people of color in TV and movies and seeing the many number of white nominees as compared to the people of color who were nominated left me feeling upset and unsure and confused. It wasn't like people of color hadn't made important contributions to movies in those years so why weren't they nominated? Why wasn't their talent given the recognition it deserved?

However, it wasn't until the all white nominee list for the major acting categories last year that really brought this issues to the forefront. Everyone hoped and prayed that in 2016, the Academy would do better about its nomination of people of color but for the second time in a row, the Academy has yet another all white nominee list in its acting categories and in other categories as well.

For example, Sylvester Stallone received a nomination for Creed but he was the only white actor with a major role. The white screenwriters for Straight Outta Compton were nominated. In both cases, the movies are about black people but no black filmmaker or actor is nominated. Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith are few of many people criticizing the Academy for the lack of diversity. Trevor Noah and Roy Wood Jr. discussed reasons why there weren't as many nominations for people of color, especially black filmmakers and actors, at this year's Oscars.

This is problematic in so many ways and for someone who has loved and appreciated the Oscars for years, I'm just done with the ridiculous excuses being given as to why more people of color weren't nominated. It's not as if people of color weren't in movies in 2014 and it's not like those movies bombed at the box office. Everyone was talking about Straight Outta Compton when it released and even weeks after it's release. It's still a topic of conversation today. The cultural impact of the movie was incredibly important and it was a story worth sharing. So why didn't anyone (besides the white screenwriters) get nominated? Idris Elba's performance in Beasts of No Nation deserved recognition by the Academy and everyone who has seen the movie agrees.

Even though the racial dynamics of movies have been changing and evolving over the years with diversity becoming an important issue everyone continues to talk about, the lack of diversity in the major awards is infuriating. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy president understands the frustration about the lack of diversity and said, "Of course I am disappointed, but this is not to take away the greatness [of the films nominated]."

Regardless of how "slow" Isaacs thinks the Academy is moving, not actively trying to change this issues does nothing for the lack of diversity in the nominations. By giving people of color the chance to be recognized by the biggest acting award in the industry shows them that their voice matters. Their experiences and beliefs and lives matter. Furthermore, this helps people of all ages feel a sense of belonging, especially if they wish to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. But the worst part of all of this controversy is that no one is surprised. There is enough proof that Hollywood is incredibly whitewashed (they tried to sell Emma Stone as a woman of Hawaiian and Asian heritage) for no one to truly be surprised at the nominations.

The 88th Academy Awards will take place on February 28, 2016 if you choose to watch. As for me, I will probably be skipping the show this year.