#PatricaArquette Wake Up!

 

Raised to love films, Oscar Day has always been like a holiday in my house.  My beloved late Mama and I would dress up and prepare a special Oscar meal as if we were there. As an adult, I had the great pleasure to work in my dream industry and I always promised my Mom that if I ever had the opportunity to actually attend the ceremonies, she would go with me.  I continued the celebratory practice for the three ceremonies since my Mom’s passing.  But this year, I had mixed emotions about the Oscars.  The snubbing of Ava DuVernay and David Olewoyo for “Selma” brought back all of the incidents of both sexism and racism that I witnessed while working in that industry.

However, I couldn’t buck a Lifelong tradition and watched it.  Overall, a bit boring – Neil Patrick Harris will go down as one of the most snooze inducing hosts in Oscar history – I was brought back to Life by Patricia Arquette’s rallying call for women’s wage equality!  I clapped in my house, shouted “You go girl!” and took to my social networks to laud her great statement. Then I woke up, literally and figuratively.

We need equal pay and discrimination gone. And bravo to the first half of her statement on the podium. But sadly she had to reopen her mouth later and it was a unfortunate mess!  To insinuate that people of color and the LGBT community should stop advocating for equality for all, and solely worry about white women getting equal pay, was ridiculous.

I have watched for years as so-called “feminists” and “liberals” have been blatantly racist towards people of color. Her comments in the backstage area were evidence of this. She should have stopped or simply repeated what she said on the podium instead of claiming that “you owe US now.” I am a woman and of color, so who is the US??

Most of the same women in Hollywood and corporate America shouting that they want equal pay are the same ones, who racially discriminate when hiring! When they look around their offices there are no women of color. Equal pay?? How about equal hiring??

In Hollywood, there are tons of white women in positions of power, including that Amy Pascal, who was caught being both idiotic AND racist during the Sony scandal. On every TV show and Film there are white female producers. Yet none of them pay if forward and hire women, or people, of color. I used to work in that industry, I know firsthand.

So NO I don’t owe “white” womenhood SQUAT! Who I do owe is my ancestry, who experienced all manner of racist atrocities and womanhood, in general, not white women, in particular!

 

That Girl At the Party

I am a proud blogger/influencer of 16 years and founder of the Henley Content Lab for content creators from underserved communities, who are 45 and over. I am also the founder of Chateau Canna and Cannappetit. I am also an aunt to 12 and human to Bodhi and Yoko Rey.

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