"Is it time that people of color recognize how much power, influence, that we have amassed¹, that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere?" she said in the video. "Maybe it's time that we recognize that if we love and respect and acknowledge ourselves in the way in which we are asking others to do, that that is the place of true power."

 

Pinkett Smith called for change, saying that "it's our responsibility now" to make the difference.

 

"Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity and diminishes power. And we are a dignified² people and we are powerful," she said. "Let's do us, differently."

 

Fellow member of Hollywood Spike³ Lee also addressed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy⁴ this morning, saying that he, too, will be skipping the Awards show this year.

 

In an Instagram post, the director condemned⁵ Hollywood execs for not using their power to bring more stories about people of color to the big screen.

 

"The truth is we ain't in those rooms and until minorities are, the Oscar nominees⁶ will remain lilly [sic] white," he wrote.

 

Following the backlash of yet another year of #OscarsSoWhite, Jada Pinkett Smith expressed her dismay on the awards' lack of diversity.

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