The Oscars Are Diverse

Good Morning, Breakfastpoppers. Today is Monday, January 25, 2016. Our noisy, but delightful friend, Chiquita Cicada is at the breakfast table this morning. She is wondering about all the noise coming from Hollywood liberals about the "color content" of the Oscars. The 88th Annual Academy Awards are approaching and there is a great deal of rumbling and discontent going on. Celebrities like Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have called for a boycott of the star-studded night. They and others are saying that the Oscars are just "too white." I think they're wrong, but then again racism is back in vogue, so perhaps it's just the current thing to do. Please join Chiquita and me for a delicious breakfast and some Hollywood facts. Chiquita is serving Banana Waffles. I'm serving Irish Coffees with a good bit of the Irish in the mix. We hope to see you soon.

Thank you all for coming this morning. The Oscars are a bit down the road, but some in Hollywood have decided to voice their dissatisfaction with the color of the nominees by not showing up. That, of course is their prerogative, but I wonder what all the fuss is about. Looking back at past Oscar evenings, I see plenty of diversity. Denzel Washington walked away with an Oscar in 2001 for "Training Day." Was that an aberration, or was he just that good? I think he was "just that good." Coincidentally, that year he was also voted America's Favorite Movie Star. How did that happen in this racist country? It must have been a mistake. What about Jamie Foxx winning the Oscar for Ray in 2004. Not only was the content of the money important and diverse, but the last time I checked, Mr. Foxx was black. In 2006 Forrest Whitaker won for , "the Last King of Scotland." The Smith's must have slept through that one. I loved Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby. Apparently, so did the Academy because he won for Best Actor in a Leading Role. How he slipped through the crack, I'll never know. In 2001, Halle Berry won an Oscar for "Monster Ball." We must have been less racist back then. Jennifer Hudson won Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 2006 for "Dreamergirls." I saw that a few times. I must not be a racist.

I could go on and on, naming winners for Best Sound Mixing, Writing, Short Films and more, but I think it will get tedious. Let's just say that the Oscars have been diverse for a long, long time. If a "person of color" isn't nominated in a particular year, that is not racism, that is the decision of the Academy and the luck of the draw. All this whining is getting old. We finally elect a black present and we step back to the time of slavery. There must be something of value that appeals to those who wish to keep racism alive and kicking that escapes me and others like me. If black actors want more roles, they should get their black writers to write something fine. Are we supposed to award somebody an Oscar because of the color of their skin, or are we rewarding talent? This latest complaint fits right in with this administration's push to separate us as a society, pitting black against white. All of us should be tired of it, no matter the color of our skin.

President Obama, Michelle Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, and others have a vested interest in keeping us separate and angry. Angry people are easier to manipulate if you give them a target. Obama knows this and he uses it all the time. My children did not grow up in a racist world. They had black friends, Latino friends and Asian friends, and they were fine with all of it. I hope my grandchildren get the opportunity to grow up the same way, but that will only happen when and if we learn to drown out the ugly rhetoric coming from this administration and the Democrats. Hitler took a divided, angry population and gave them a target to hate. Let's not let that happen to us. Groups like Black Lives Matter, care about trouble and division. We need to drown out the noise and celebrate our freedom and our diversity. Throw in a generous serving of common sense and we will have it made.

Chiquita's Song

I'm Chiquita Cicada and I'm here to say

I wish these people would just go away......