We all witnessed a bit of history last night at the Oscars, with the chaos of the Best Picture announcement. The aftermath of any historical event provides us with the opportunity for education, to learn something that was not known before, so we may be better equipped for the future ahead.<\/p>\n
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After the confetti of the 89th<\/sup>\u00a0Oscars had settled, I realised there was only one thing to be learned from it: white people in the arts are completely unprepared for the tidal wave of talented people of colour bearing down upon them all, unprepared for their genius to finally be given the limelight. It\u2019s like when you realised that Cordelia is actually a really smart and cool character, but Buffy and the rest of Scoobies refused to ever acknowledge that fact to their own detriment (I realise the irony of using a very white TV show to make this point).<\/p>\n You could see this in the way that host Jimmy Kimmel joked about Oscar winner Mahershala Ali\u2019s name, and what he would call his newly-born daughter \u2018given his name is Mahershala\u2019. Something normal, you know. I know I would love main focus of comments after I\u2019ve just made history being the first African-American Muslim man to have won an Oscar to be something about weird my name is, what a fun way to be reminded that no matter how astronomical your achievements might be, if your name\u2019s not directly lifted from the Bible (New Testament only) or the list of names you\u2019re allowed to call your children if you\u2019re going to send them to private school (I\u2019m looking at you Casey, but with minimal eye contact because you\u2019re terrifying), you will always be treated like an outsider.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Anyone with a name that doesn\u2019t appear on Lou Bega\u2019s\u00a0Mambo No. 5<\/em>\u00a0knows exactly what this feels like. If I had a dollar for every time a white person asked me how to pronounce my full name I\u2019d probably have just enough to buy a 7-Eleven frozen slurpee, because that\u2019s how many times people have taken the time to acknowledge they\u2019re unfamiliar with something foreign, but that they are willing to learn and are cool about it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the other hand, a dollar for every time I\u2019ve had to grin and bear someone mispronouncing my name or wondering aloud about how \u2018different\u2019 it sounds would mean I could afford a plane ticket to a place where I wouldn\u2019t have to hear that shit any more. I even wrote a whole show about how I sometimes call myself \u2018Michelle\u2019 because it\u2019s just easier than having to deal with white people (or their permeating cultural supremacy) not being able to handle anything slightly outside their well-patrolled borders.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a difference between acknowledging difference and using it as a weapon, wielding it like a blunt sword to make terrible jokes because that\u2019s the only way you know how to deal with the unfamiliar. Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s continuous allusions to what is and isn\u2019t an acceptable name last night \u2013 oh yeah there was\u00a0more than one<\/a>, is sad and unfortunate, but in the way that it makes me worried about white people. Yes, I\u2019ve progressed from being angry to feeling sorry for them, like my feelings for Kevin Rudd, or the cast of\u00a0Married at First Sight.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jimmy Kimmel is the deer in the headlights of progress, and while the long-maligned non-white, non-straight, non-Christian folk are busy collecting awards at one of the most prestigious celebrations of the arts in the world, Kimmel handles it by acting like he\u2019s been living under a nice rock while progress and globalisation were happening right outside. You clearly missed the \u2018always be prepared\u2019 memo at Boy Scouts, Jimmy.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t just Kimmel either. What happened before the cast and crew of Moonlight were finally allowed on stage to accept their win for Best Picture was unfortunate, but it also went on for far longer than it should. The\u00a0La La Land<\/em>\u00a0crew milled about stage for a good while even after they were told \u201cno you didn\u2019t win, this was a mistake\u201d, Warren Beatty saw fit to ramble about how this mistake actually happened, even though it really wasn\u2019t an explanation, but rather an exoneration for himself, all while the true winners of the night \u2013 who should\u2019ve been up there from the start \u2013 had to patiently wait their turn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was pretty clear that even when they\u2019re told \u201cthis space is not meant for you any more\u201d, privileged people feel pretty comfortable taking their own sweet time with moving out of that space. It\u2019s like being told to leave the squash court because other people want to have a go, but they can\u2019t believe other people also play squash (yes this is the whitest game I could think of).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And I don\u2019t blame them \u2013 it\u2019s what they\u2019re used to and have always known. But what happens when they realise other people not only like playing squash, but that they have been doing so for ages and are actually really awesome at it? What happens when those scales start to be tipped, as they were last night?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I know people of colour are prepared to deal with whatever may happen \u2013 be it the backlash or the adulation and rewards that they\u2019ve always known they deserved \u2013 because unlike the privileged, we\u2019re always prepared; we\u2019ve always had to be. Whatever happens, it\u2019s obvious that we\u2019re not going anywhere and wins like this will only become more common. I can only hope that people like Jimmy Kimmel can get used to it, and soon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n