The Emmys: Progression only after Opression
Master of None is a great show on Netflix. It has recently become one of my favorite shows ever since I binged watched the first two seasons in less than a week. I highly recommend everyone watch it. It’s funny, dramatic and full of heart. So a few nights ago, the Emmy premiered. People won. People lost. Sean Spicer was there but that’s a whole different article.
Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe had both won Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the Master of None episode, Thanksgiving. Although Aziz didn’t even give a speech because it was Waithe’s moment. It’s one of the best episodes of the series. Funny and real for many people and I was rooting for it to win. That win made history also. Lena Waithe became the first Black Woman to win in that category…
The first.
It’s 2017.
The very first Emmys premiered in 1949.
That’s 68 years.
The fact that it took 68 years for a black Woman to win an Emmy for a writing comedy is not right at all. That fact that a black woman finally won doesn’t make up for those 68 years of hilarious black female writers not getting recognition or even getting chance to write and then not getting recognized. I sense that most of the voters who voted for it didn’t even watch the episode. They probably just heard what the subject matter was. Decided it was important and gave it a vote.
Almost as if they ARE trying to make up for those 68 years. However it doesn’t. The fact that it took our current political situation to get this dire for them to finally start recognizing non-white talent is pathetic. It feels like damage control. However the damage is already done. Change never happens without cause. We still haven’t learned that we should change to prevent the cause and at this point we probably never will.
It feels dirty, it feels gross. Like voters are just using peoples skin color and sexual identity as some sort of twisted propaganda against the man they voted for. It took Trump being elected for people to finally start being progressive and that’s sad. We had to sink that low and it doesn’t even feel right.
Donald Glover won two Emmys for his show, Atlanta. Which looks like a good show. That’s probably what most voters thought too. Looks like a good show and Trump is president and we want to be progressive. I guess there is nothing to complain about because so many talented black individuals are finally getting recognition that they deserve. Which is great. However, it does feel like damage control at this point. We can’t just change our ways, we need a reason. People can just be good.
It took 68 years and Trump being elected for people to just finally start being progressive. I just want to stress that amount of time. Six full decades and 8 years. That’s mainly what I wanted to write about. How nothing changes on its own and people need that much of an extra spray tanned, wig implanted push to get something done is infuriating.
I guess the most important thing is that people are finally changing and all talent is being recognized. It’s just a shame, the world had to get worse before it could get better.