Entertainment is really important in this culture, as is evidenced by the 34.4 million people who watched the Oscars this year. However, it is important to note that this year was the lowest in eight years for viewings of The Oscars. As many might know, this partially stems from the controversy over the fact that there were no African-Americans nominated for awards. People became indignant over this -- planning to boycott the Oscars and spreading the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. I planned on watching the Oscars anyway, mainly to see how people would handle the diversity issue. I finished the program feeling very disappointed.

First off, Chris Rock did not handle the situation well. I thought that he, as someone of color, would be much more sensitive to the issues at hand. However, he addressed the issue in a flippant and humor-filled way, making light of the real weight of the situation. In his opening monologue, Rock said, “Well, I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise know as the White People’s Choice Awards. You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job!” Rock also pointed out that there have been many other Academy Awards where black people were not nominated due to civil issues of the time, saying “black people did not protest. Why? Because we had real things to protest at the time.” Rock did not ignore the racism in Hollywood, but called it “sorority racist” instead of “burning cross racist.” Rock tried to explain this by saying, “We like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.” In a way, the joke is trying to make light of the racism that does exist in the film-making community. Equal opportunity should be available for all people.

There were also things that Rock said that were offensive, but he got away with them because of the color of his skin. When introducing the next speakers, Rock said, “Please welcome Emily Blunt and somebody whiter, Charlize Theron.” If there had been a white man on stage who had said, “Please welcome ________ and somebody blacker, _______,” people would have booed him off the stage. This double standard for racism is difficult to deal with, especially when the side with the most challenges against them deals with the situation like it’s a joke. Similarly, when commenting on the accounting firm that holds the names of the winners, Rock had three young Asian children in business attire and briefcases walk on the stage. Rock joked about them being the main holders of the firm, and then said, “If anybody's upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone, which was also made by these kids.” This level of insensitivity was appalling. It was hard to take Rock seriously about diversity when he was not being inclusive himself.

There were many other things throughout the night that upset me and made me uncomfortable. Overall, what do we do about the lack of diversity in media? It is important to recognize that there was diversity on the stage that night, it just showed up in different ways. The diversity issue is not just black and white -- we should recognize equal opportunity for men, women, Hispanics, Asians … the list could go on forever. All minorities are important.

Honestly, I don’t know how to fix this problem. It is difficult to live in a world where people are not given the same opportunities. I want racism to be gone and for all people to have totally equal opportunity, and one way to spark that is to talk about it. We also need to remember that we don’t have all the answers. We can’t fix the situation ourselves because we live in a world that is covered in sin. We need a Savior to break down the barriers of racism and shame and inequality and make us one.