|
 But the television industry
needs to take concrete action on pledges to
nurture non-white writers and directors to
ensure that the 2020 awards ceremony is not just
a blip triggered by a summer of protests over
systemic racism in the United States, observers
say.
"I'm sure the last thing the Television Academy
wanted was to have an 'Emmys so white'
controversy in the middle of all that," said
Eric Deggans, TV critic for National Public
Radio. "So I'm not surprised they paid special
attention to the work of Black performers," said
Deggans, author of the 2012 book "Race Baiter."
Record Emmy nominations for people of color
included nods for Kerry Washington ("Little
Fires Everywhere" and "American Son"), Sandra Oh
("Killing Eve"), Billy Porter ("Pose"), Regina
King ("Watchmen"), Issa Rae ("Insecure") and
Sterling K. Brown ("This is Us" and "The
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel").
"Watchmen," the superhero alternative reality
drama infused with racial themes, led
nominations with 26 nods.
Nominations open doors for other Blacks, Asians
and Latinos and shape perceptions beyond the
world of entertainment, said Rashad Robinson,
president of social justice organization Color
of Change.
"What these awards represent is the industry's
way of creating a system of letting people in,
of creating access to jobs and opportunities,"
Robinson said. "It dictates the stories we get
to see in the world about who we are, and that
has deep implications on the unwritten rules
about how we are treated in hospitals, by judges
and at schools."
The Emmy nominees came from shows that were made
before America began a painful cultural
reckoning over racism this summer.
[to top of second column]
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 More are on their way,
including documentary "Driving While Black,"
"Woke" about a Black cartoonist who has an
encounter with police, abolitionist drama "The
Good Lord Bird," and "Enslaved" about the
history of the slave trade.
Robinson said that exciting as it is to see
Black artists and stories break through, more
structural changes such as inclusion riders,
diversity in writers rooms and fully rounded
characters are needed to ensure lasting change.
"It's not enough to care. It's not enough to be
aware," he said. "We have to have people willing
to act and to make real changes." .
Deggans noted that Latinx talent is still
largely overlooked at the Emmys, even though
Latinos form America's second largest ethnic
group after whites.
"It's regrettable that so much of the
recognition fell on Black performers and there
wasn't a little bit more in regard to Latinx
people especially," said Deggans, noting that
shows like "Gentefied," "Vida" and "One Day at a
Time" were largely overlooked.
"The cause of Latinx representation in Hollywood
is a little further back - where Black people
were, say, 10 years ago," Deggans added.
The Emmy Awards will be handed out on Sunday at
a virtual ceremony televised on ABC.
(The story corrects nominations for Sterling K.
Brown).
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie
Adler)
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