text: The Oscars are less white, but the industry hasn't changed | Daily Mail Online
  Published: 10:58 EST, 23 February 2017 | Updated: 10:59 EST, 23 February 2017
  LOS ANGELES (AP) - After two years of intense public scrutiny over the academy's all-white acting nominations, the 2017 Oscar nominees are as diverse a group as the organization has ever seen, thanks to films like "Moonlight," ''Fences," ''Hidden Figures" and "Loving."
  The landmark nominations are undeniable, especially in the acting categories. It's the first time ever that each has at least one black nominee. Denzel Washington ("Fences") is up for best actor (his seventh nomination), Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight") for best supporting actor, Ruth Negga ("Loving") is a best actress contender, and, in another first, the best supporting actress category includes three black nominees (Naomie Harris for "Moonlight," Viola Davis for "Fences" and Octavia Spencer for "Hidden Figures"). All in all, there are six black actors nominated and seven actors of color (including Dev Patel for "Lion") - a deafening response to #OscarsSoWhite, which activist April Reign coined in response to the all-white acting nominees in 2015, and then again in 2016.
  It might lead one to think that #OscarsSoWhite is a thing of the past - eradicated through public outcries and an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership shake-up in which 683 new faces were invited to join with an emphasis on diversity. One of those new members, director Amma Asante, said it's "a good thing" that "more people who look like me have been nominated."
  In reality, however, the nominations are the result of a messy confluence of factors that don't lend themselves to a simple narrative - not to mention the fact that diversity doesn't end with black and white.
  "Most of these films started a few years ago - four years ago, five years ago - not as a response to what happened last year, but as a response to the lack of these voices," Jenkins said. "I have no doubt that next year we'll be here this time of year and it'll be the same thing ... we're not going away."
  "As long as the person giving the greenlight to a movie is not a woman, a black person, a Latino, a gay, whatever - if there is not a bigger repartition of this power structure, nothing will change," Peck said. "We will go back and back to this conversation as long as nobody can say these are the definite changes."
  FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 6, 2017 file photo, Mahershala Ali arrives at the 89th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. With "Fences," ''Hidden Figures," ''Loving" and "Moonlight" in the Oscar mix, #Oscarssowhite may be a thing of the past. Is this a blip or signs of progress? And if there aren't big wins, is it still a win for diversity? (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
  This image released by Focus Features shows Ruth Negga, right, and Joel Edgerton in a scene from, "Loving." (Ben Rothstein/Focus Features via AP)
  FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2017 file photo, Barry Jenkins arrives at the 89th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. With "Fences," ''Hidden Figures," ''Loving" and "Moonlight" in the Oscar mix, #Oscarssowhite may be a thing of the past. Is this a blip or signs of progress? And if there aren't big wins, is it still a win for diversity? (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)