Letter: Calling the Oscars racist is racist

Re: “Read On: Oscar acting nods show lack of diversity,” Jan. 17. Ray Richmond would have us believe that the Oscar nominations, as well as every other aspect of American culture, is rooted in racism. Nonsense. The idea that there must — by some God-given commandment — be a precise and equal distribution of every race/culture in every sector of American culture is, well, racism.

America judges people on their individual merit, as the does the Academy. The fact that they nominated persons other than the ones Richmond would have chosen is not a sign of racism. It might, in fact, be a sign of a higher standard of artistic appreciation.

Racism died in America long ago. And it’s high time journalists learned that fact.

Ray Shelton

Glendale