The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been swept up in yet another race scandal. The director of Till, which dramatizes the horrific murder of black 14-year-old Emmett Till at the hands of white supremacists, accused the Oscars of “upholding whiteness” after they snubbed her movie in all categories.
Similar to the bitter sentiments expressed when Ava DuVernay failed to pick up a nomination for the 2014 movie Selma, Till director Chinonye Chukwu said that the total Oscar shoutout means that the Academy has chosen to protect the white vanguards while pushing misogyny against black women.
“We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women. And yet. I am forever in gratitude for the greatest lesson of my life – regardless of any challenges or obstacles, I will always have the power to cultivate my own joy, and it is this joy that will continue to be one of my greatest forms of resistance,” Chukwu wrote on Instagram.
Chukwu issued this accusation despite the fact that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) declared a new series of inclusion requirements to “encourage equitable representation on and off screen” back in 2020.
“The aperture must widen to reflect our diverse global population in both the creation of motion pictures and in the audiences who connect with them. The Academy is committed to playing a vital role in helping make this a reality. We believe these inclusion standards will be a catalyst for long-lasting, essential change in our industry,” Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement at the time.
Films now have two to four diversity standards, including “on-screen representation, themes and narratives; creative leadership and project team; industry access and opportunities; and audience development.”
The family of Emmett Till also said they were saddened and disappointed by the snub while avoiding the kind of political rhetoric employed by Chukwu. Emmett’s cousin and cofounder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, Deborah Watts, told TMZ that the family was disappointed that Danielle Deadwyler, who played Emmett’s mom, did not get recognized for her work, saying she “embodied and delivered the true essence of our cousin, a loving and courageous mother, Mamie Till Mobley.”
“She reached deeply and poured her heart and soul in this role as she embraced us intimately like no other, while transforming into Mamie and bringing her true essence and story to life,” said Watts.