Daniel Kaluuya Unintentionally Summed Up Oscars Diversity the Best: There’s Still a Lot of Work to Do

There were high hopes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)’ 93rd Academy Awards ceremony. For the first time in history, nearly half of the nominees in acting categories were people of color, and 70 women were nominated across all 23 categories. These were unprecedented numbers for an awards show that has existed for nearly a century. While some of this change resulted from AMPAS’ Academy Aperture 2020 Diversity Initiative (A2020) and the Tarana Burke-founded #MeToo Movement, the events of 2020 also shook Hollywood to its core.

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Actor Richard Brooks Talks ‘Being Mary Jane’ and Diversity on the Big and Small Screens

Richard Brooks stars in “Being Mary Jane.” Photo Credit: BET Networks/ Daniel McFadden.

What does it mean to hit rock bottom? Is there any way to recover; to gradually rebuild all that you have destroyed on your downward spiral? Typically the freefall is what draws television audiences in, keeping them attached to the screen hour after hour or week after week. And yet on Being Mary Jane, a powerful drama on BET created by husband and wife duo Salim Akil and Mara Brock-Akil, the recovery is just as riveting.

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