The Academy Awards have a long history of taking a long time to do . well, everything. After all, it has been running for an amazingly long 74 years and normally the program runs longer than the scheduled four hours. In fact, this year the show had a record length that was over four and a half hours. And of course, leave it to the little gold man to take an exceptionally long time to honor minorities.

Discrimination seems to finally be subsiding in Hollywood. Last Sunday, three statues were given to three wonderful actors, who also happen to be black. That has never happened in 74 years of Oscars.

Also this year there was an black host, although that seems less significant since Whoopi Goldberg has hosted before. But hey, this is still marvelous because it shows that racism in the entertainment industry seems to be screeching to a halt. Or is it?

Unfortunately the answer is no. The speeding car of discrimination is zooming completely out of control. To me, this year’s Academy Awards were the epitome of racism. However, it seems to be reversed.

I do not mean it was reversed because Halle Berry and Denzel Washington both won best acting awards. The reverse came when these actors made a big deal out of the fact that they won and they are black. Berry herself briefly mentioned that she hoped one day that the color of the skin would not be a big deal for the winner. Of course that one day has to be some day in the future since obviously Berry’s incessant crying and thanking what she called “faceless” black actresses showed that color of the skin is still important. But I ask, why not today?

Berry did not win because she was a good actress and because she was black. She triumphed simply because she was a good actress. It had nothing to do with the color of her skin.

Her performance in “Monster’s Ball” was phenomenal and deserves every bit of praise she has gotten for it. Although I personally believe the Best Actor honor should have gone to Russell Crowe, I still recognize Washington also gave an outstanding performance. I just think it is sad they cannot seem to see past the color of their own skin.

Maybe I was just raised differently. Through my education I have been taught that we are all the same, no matter if our skin is peach, brown, yellow or pink. I have always held anti-racist beliefs even though my hometown is roughly 90 percent Caucasian.

I was raised to be proud of my heritage. I wear an Irish symbol on my ring and necklace. Yet everything about this year’s Academy Awards screamed blatant bigotry.

It was not just the actors nominated who made me feel like racism was running rampant on the red carpet. The idea was advocated by all the black actors present. Those who were just guests were asked during the pre-show what actors they were cheering for. Each time they mentioned actors whose skin was the same color as theirs.

They mentioned they were rooting for Will Smith, Washington and Berry. The obvious connection between all three is the color of their skin. Never once did these guests mention they wanted the nominees to win for their astounding portrayals of their respective roles.

Please do not get me wrong. I put a lot of personal emphasis on traditions of my ancestors and learning about other cultures. Understanding not just your own background but others as well truly helps create a more complete person.

As an individual whose best friend is of Mexican decent I sometimes think our campus lacks quite a bit in the awareness of the Latino culture. However, awareness is not racism. There is no great race, especially not in such a diverse nation as the United States.

Sadly the antics of this year’s show reminded me of discriminatory ideas like affirmative action and minority scholarships. These are two circumstances that may consider merit, but draw their most important distinction along ethnic lines. How can we create a world that is colorblind if we still make unnecessary decisions based on the hue of our skin? There is no way. We will never live in peace and equality until everyone learns that white is not right and black is not best. What we must learn to achieve unity is that no skin color is premier. We all walk on two legs, bleed when you cut us, and often cry when you hurt us. There is no reason to wait another day for skin color to not be important.

Ayrel Clark is a freshman in pre-journalism and mass communication from Johnston.