‘Selma’ Snub Means Diversity Is Still Sparse in a White Hollywood

[Commentary] The Motion Picture Academy snubbed “Selma”, one of the movies that seemed to have passion, momentum and the weight of history on its side. Yes, I know the film won a Best Picture nomination, but it was snubbed in the writing, directing and acting categories. That’s a surprise. The Academy missed a chance to nominate an African-American woman director -- which would have been a first.

Why the snub in a year after “12 Years a Slave” made it all the way to win Best Picture? It could not have helped that Paramount never got the screeners to the voters. It’s also worth considering that the Academy is made up almost entirely of elderly white men. And as we know, diversity is a total stranger in its membership halls. We’re talking 90-something percent white. That can only change when the industry itself changes -- opens its arms to the diversity of experience, art, culture and voices of what America has become.