Let me just put this out there. The LA Times did a story about Hollywood and discrimination against black people. Yes, the same story that comes out every year during the award season. It's the same stuff we have seen every year, and there is always an ignorant reaction by someone like this -

My blood pressure tells me I shouldn't even respond to this, but this is indicative of the lack of understanding, knowledge and I will dare say common sense a vast number of people have about race in our society. I wouldn't have even responded to this if it wasn't for people like Mike Huckabee, who are subtly suggesting the President of the United States didn't grow up like the rest of us. Actually I should say like the rest of them because my complexion definitely puts me in the them category and not us.

So, Jon K, let's take a look at your statements and knock them down right now. How many awards shows are there not devoted to race? You mentioned the Image Awards, BET awards and the Latin Grammys, can you name me some more. If you think hard you might be able to come up with a total of ten. Just for the sake of argument, how many awards can you come up with that don't cater to race in particular? I mean stuff like the Screen Actors Guild Award, The Screenwriters Guild Award, The Saturn Awards, the Oscars, the IFC Awards, The Spirit Awards, The Foreign Press Awards. I came up with those seven off the top of my head and I'm sure if I googled awards I would come up with at least ten if not 20 other awards that would come up, not counting critics awards. Basically put there are a lot of awards out there and having a few that cater to blacks, Hispanics, LGBT or other backgrounds is not the end of the world nor does it mean because there is an award for a particular group is should be ignored by other award outlets.

What will always get people classified as 'other' in this country upset is the fact those who are considered in the majority will complain when those in the minority ask for some recognition. The specter of 'well, you guys have x . . .' is always thrown out there, as if we necessarily want to have the x. Have you watched the NAACP awards? Have you seen who gets nominated and wins in some of the categories? This year Tyler Perry won big for both his TV and film work. Have you seen a Tyler Perry show, either on TV or at the movie theater? While I might grudgingly call it entertaining, and that is only because the films make money so someone must like them, I would hardly call it award winning material.

See, what people see when they write comments like you do is the award show and the minorities, but not the quality of the material. The best way of thinking about it would be if the Oscars had Twilight nominated for a number of awards and it won for best actor and best picture. Maybe for it's demographic it was a best picture, and I would surely argue that, but as a best picture in general, no.

Now, you might think because of how I've been in this article, I am some raving revolutionary who is trying to manipulate the system, as you said. That's not even close because I wrote an article, when the nominations came out and there was a large cry by some about the lack of minority nominations, that stated none of the performances by minorities were good enough for nomination. I will agree with the article in the Times that an issue comes up with minority actors not getting roles that are going to majority actors, but you do have to break out of the system and there are the means of doing that today. You miss the point of what the article says if you harp on the few crumbs minorities do have with awards geared to them and ignore the larger issue, which is actors not even being considered for parts.

Take a silly film like Take Me Home Tonight. How many minorities did you see in the trailer? If I recall there were blacks, Asians and Hispanics in the 80s. I know I was there. If you don't see any in the trailer it is a pretty good bet there will be very few in the film. Let's take No Strings Attached. Guess what? There was a black person in the trailer. I gather he was the friend of Ashton Kutcher. Does that make the film black? Of course not. Now, think of the same film, which stars Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, and replace them with Derek Luke and Kerry Washington. Would that make the film a hit? Would it make it a black film? Considering the amount of money the film made would it have made more money if it starred those two? The quick answer would be to say it wouldn't have made as much money because Duke and Washington aren't household names but if they were in it and a number of black people went to the movie because they saw people of color in the film, it may have made more money. The same thing could happen if you put in Hispanic or Asian leads.

The thing about most scripts is unless its a period piece, and I mean well back in the past, or race is particular to the story a Hollywood movie could plug anyone into the characters. That is not what is happening and the art of film is replaced by commerce, thus minorities get shut out and sometimes the only way to get recognized his by having 'your own' recognize your work. It is a double edge sword, because you can end up doing a lot of bad work, but you do get some praise for it.

So please, I would love for you to take heed on this but I know next year another article on the same subject will be written and you or someone like you will again claim to be color blind while wondering why all those people are upset since they have their own channel and award shows.