The recent Oscars issue is not about racism

My argument is as follows: the recent Oscars issue is not about racism and I will support this position by looking at the history of the Oscars, the probability of racism, and the more logical explanation. 1. History. When looking at the history of the Oscars, whether nominations or winners, the Academy has not shown a continued nor deliberate effort to poorly treat, discriminate or wrongly single out black actors/actresses/producers/etc. (from this point forward I will use "cinema" to refer to all potential film positions). Black cinema has been rewarded with either nominations or wins on a number of occasions [1]. Not only has black cinema been recognized but the Academy has even recognized films about the plight of black people, which some argue the Academy tries to steer clear of because of "white guilt." The mere recognition of black cinema shows that the Academy is not afraid to recognize black talent when recognition is due. Now, this does not prove that racism is not happening at all or in the 2016 Oscars issue, but it plants a seed of doubt. Based off of its history, the Academy has not turned away from recognizing great work done by black cinema. Could there have been more nominations? Maybe, but this hardly proves racism. If the Academy has not shown a racist practice, then it at least helps inform us, but not prove, that racism is not happening in the 2016 Oscars issue. To address that I go to my next point. 2. The probability of racism. The Academy is made up of roughly 7,000 voters and 51 governors. In order to be invited into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the "Academy") you must be invited by the governors. There are 17 branches of the Academy, like an actors branch or a directors branch, and only the actors branch nominates actors, directors nominate directors, etc., but all vote on best picture [2]. When voting is done it is anonymous and now done through an online system [3]. Now, what is important is that there is no collaborative effort on behalf of, let"s say for example, the actors branch to get together and not nominate a white actor. Now one knows whom the other is voting for, as this would undermine the voting process. Regarding the 2016 Oscars, to then say that hundreds of actors, who vote anonymously, hold racist views towards black actors and purposefully vote that way so no black actor is nominated, without collaborating with each other, has a probability of zero. It would take a well planned effort to make sure that no black actors are nominated. It takes an even bigger leap to say that this happens with the Best Picture nominees as all roughly 7,000 members are voting. Simply because Straight Outta Compton was not nominated does not mean that 7,000 voters are racist, but they simply voted for something they felt was better. To claim racism among 7,000 voters and this is why is was not chosen is improbable. Not only that, but Hollywood is notoriously known for being liberal and progressive, which does not traditionally take kindly to racism [4]. It is hard to believe that through the voting process most voters have an objective bias set to racism towards black cinema. 3. Logic. Finally, what is more logical? Based off of the previous points, what is more likely, that this is about racism or something else? In order for this to be racism, the purposeful poor treatment, discrimination, and prejudice, etc., of black cinema in the 2016 Oscars, it would seemingly have to go against the tide of the history of the Academy and take a giant effort through the anonymous voting system to have the results come out with black cinema purposefully not being recognized. Neither seems likely and thus something else, and not racism, is the more logical choice. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org... [2] http://www.ibtimes.com... [3] https://web.archive.org... [4] http://www.silentbull.com...