Written by Brooke Bassey
With all of the Oscars controversy over the years, there have been many cases of internalized racism, which need to be addressed. Throughout the years of discrimination and despair, the Oscars have stayed primarily white and male. Although this is true, many still seem to believe racism has disappeared in the United States and have even shifted their views towards their own cultures/race. For example, Stacey Dash, well known for her role as Dionne from Clueless, previously stated in an interview with Fox that she believes people of color need to, “make up their minds”. Dash continued to speak on Black History month being that “we are Americans, period.”
Stacey Dash is a prime example of internalized racism in mass media. Growing up as a person of color it is typical to see your race being defaced or stereotyped at least 9/10 times, whether you’ve noticed it or not. With the environment around you, we all need to realize the representation that is being shown to us and to our children. Not only is that black background character “funny” [stereotypical] but also in the media, we need to be shown that this character is more than an irrelevant child that sags his pants. When you’re born and raised in an environment that structurally caters to one race over all others, and sets that race as the standard of beauty, internalized racism isn’t something that you can easily get over. People like Dash and more are the reasons that “Oscars so white” has been a legitimate issue, which more people need to be attentive to.
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