Halle Berry is the latest actor to speak out against the lack of diversity in Hollywood. When Berry won her Oscar in 2002, she was the first woman of color to win the award in a leading category. In thirteen years, it appears that there really hasn't been much change. Berry's 2002 acceptance speech addressed the lack of diversity, as she famously told the audience ‘The door tonight has been opened,’ I believed that with every bone in my body that this was going to incite change because this door, this barrier, had been broken.”
Berry was also quoted as saying, "'Our cities are filled with black and brown people. And many times, unfortunately we see films that are set in Chicago, New York, Atlanta - big metropolitan cities - and they're devoid of people of color,"I think that this really relates to how the media is portraying people of color--essentially this connects back to symbolic annihilation. When we don't represent a group properly or at all, we are committing an enormous injustice.
Berry's interview is a raw and real example of the plight of woman of color in Hollywood. Their underrepresentation, whether in front of or behind the camera, is alarming. Movements like #oscarssowhite are essential because they remind us to fight against the status quo, and prove that certain industries still need major changes when it comes to diversity.
- McKenzie Ziegler
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