EDITORIAL - Flights and crashes of Oscar night advocacies

The annual Academy Awards have traditionally provided the forum from which many advocates advance their advocacies. And this year's Oscars were no exception. In fact, the Dolby Theatre affair was notable for the sheer number of forceful and fiery statements made on behalf of issues that the artists have embraced in addition to their art.

Many of the advocacies and statements made on their behalf had been well, if not extremely, appreciated. But there was one made by the singer John Legend, in furtherance of the fight against racism in the United States that may have backfired and exposed what could only be the ugly side of racism itself - that is when the defense of bias against color becomes a bias in itself.

In an emotional statement, Legend tried to drive home the point that there are more Blacks in prison in the United States today than there had ever been. But Legend came to a sudden stop after that. He did not go into any details about his assertion. Even if his assertion is true that there are more Blacks in prison today in the US than there had ever been, that still does not quite tell the whole story.

Legend did not go on to advance the idea that there are more Blacks in prison today because they are simply picked off the streets and thrown behind bars for no other reason than that their skin is black. That would have driven the point straight home. But Legend said nothing of the sort. In fact, he said nothing further. He just slammed on the brakes and stopped there. He did not qualify his remarks. In so doing, he left it hanging and open to many interpretations.

In fact, the most plausible explanation for why there are more Blacks in prison is also the most damaging to Legend's half-baked thesis. Couldn't it be there are more Blacks in prison because there are more Blacks in trouble with the law? Now, that may not be the case, of course, but because Legend did not qualify his remarks, he unwittingly left such remarks open to repudiation, perhaps by irrefutable facts.

And that is the problem with statements such as the one Legend made, statements that do not give the complete picture, statements that are obviously crafted to for dramatic effect but are really fragile on account of their incompleteness. What a powerful message Legend could have imparted if he went on to say that the reason there are more Blacks in jail is because they are being discriminated against, with charges being trumped up, simply because their skin color is black.

But if that was what Legend planned, he clearly failed in the execution. He did not get to where he wanted to go. Saying there are more Blacks in jail means nothing if you do not say why. In the end, Legend came out as one who used his own biases to pull off a cheap trick. Sadly for him, the cheap trick did not fly. He should learn from Patricia Arquette, who rightfully stole the night with her equality for women advocacy by just being truthful and to the point.