JADA PINKETT SMITH WON’T ATTEND THE OSCARS: “BEGGING FOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…DIMINISHES DIGNITY”
In a video posted to her Facebook page titled “We must stand in our power!”, the actress notes that it’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day, then says, “I ask the question: Have we now come to a new time and place where we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledgement or respect of any group? Then maybe it’s time that we recognize that if we love and respect and acknowledge ourselves, in the way in which we are asking others to do.”
“The Academy has the right to acknowledge whomever they choose,” she goes on. “And now I think that it’s our responsibility now to make the change. Maybe it is time that we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities, into our programs, and we make programs for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit that are just as good as the so-called mainstream ones.”
“Begging for acknowledgement or even asking diminishes dignity,” Smith declares. “It diminishes power. And we are a dignified people. And we are powerful and let’s not forget it. So let’s let the Academy do them, with all grace and love. And let’s do us, differently.”
She concludes by addressing Oscar ceremony host Chris Rock: “Hey Chris. I will not be at the Academy Awards and I won’t be watching. But I can’t think of a better man to do the job at hand this year than you, my friend. Good luck.”