A Dash of Crow

Brianna Myers for Race, Gender, and The Media

In class on January 27 we talked about the controversy of the potential boycott of the Oscar's and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.
It's impossible to bring up this subject without also bringing up Stacey Dash.

Dash, in an interview with Fox News, said something along the lines of if Black people want to be nominated for Oscar's, they have to get rid of channels like BET and awards shows like the BET awards and the NAACP awards. Basically she's saying that black people would be offended if there were channels and shows that only honored one people. First, has she watched TV lately and second, many white people have been honored on BET.

I can't even put into words all the reasons why Stacey Dash is wrong for what she is saying, but luckily Roland Martin from TV One NewsOne Now did. In one of Martin's segments, he corrected he on the false statements she spoke in her interview. He mentioned America Ferrera, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as recipients of Image Awards(Award show hosted by the NAACP) and noticeably, they aren't black.

Dash's comments on FOX placed the blame on African Americans for the segregation and racial tensions in American. The act of contributing to organizations and companies that push for the recognition of colored people somehow justifies major award shows like the Oscars snubbing black actors and films that were actually major hits in the box offices this year.

Martin then pointed out the many magazine covers that Dash herself has been featured on; Magazines that are geared towards African Americans. After rattling off title after title, Martin finished his segment of demolishing her claims by saying, “The next time you embarrass yourself and you lie, please pull your phone out, pull your iPad and say, ‘Let me at least call a brother like Roland who might tell me before I go on, don’t make an ass out of yourself,’ looking like a damn fool.”

Martin’s video circulated the Black Twitter like fire. The overwhelming response was gratitude towards Martin and his willingness to call out Stacey Dash on her comments and exactly why she had no right to voice them.

So eat that Stacey Dash.