Ever since Denzel Washington and Hallie Berry won Oscars for Training Day and Monster’s Ball I questioned why black celebrities set the Grammy’s and Academy Awards at such a high standard. Why not create your own award shows or make a bigger deal out of winning a BET Award? Because we all know that Denzel is an amazing actor and so is Hallie and they had to play a crocked cop and a white man’s whore before they received acknowledgement from the white community. Even recently Taraji P Henson made a bold statement by saying that after 20 years of acting she is now being honored with Golden Globe Award for playing a drug dealing, convict on Empire. Why? Not to take anything from the roles they played because they all did phenomenal jobs but I’m sure we could name at least one other movie that each star was cheated out of a nomination or an award for. And let’s not forget the Kendrick Lamar snub in 2014 by the Grammy’s.

So Jada has made a great point on multiple levels, she’s speaking a lot further than just awards. She is speaking to us as a community. So many people complain about the cost of Michael Jordan’s shoes but not the cost of Michael Kors or red bottoms. We have to be willing to support each and that is how we will rebuild our communities. We make other people rich beyond their wildest dreams instead of spreading the wealth amongst each other. Jada was so clear in her message, there is no love lost but real talk, we need to go where we’re celebrated and not simply tolerated.

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