| The 2019 Oscars went off without a hitch or a host, a night of historic firsts and real diversity, with some shrugs and squints along the way. Regina King won the best supporting actress award for If Beale Street Could Talk, and director Spike Lee took home his first non-honorary Oscar for best adapted screenplay for BlacKkKlansman, bounding into the arms of presenter and longtime friend, Samuel L. Jackson before he accepted his award. Black Panther may have lost best picture to Green Book, but Ruth E. Carter, costume designer, and Hannah Beachler, production designer, became the first black women in their fields to win for their work on the film. And although Roma didn't sweep the awards, the film had a big night, winning for best cinematography and best foreign film, with Alfonso Cuarón earning best director. The utterly charming and deserving Olivia Colman won lead actress for her work in The Favourite, salving the sting for fans of Yalitzia Aparacio, who was nominated for her work in Roma. In her case, the nod is truly a victory: Aparacio is the first Indigenous actor ever to be nominated. Even Selma Blair made inclusion news, tearful and resplendent on the runway in a gown and cane after her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis last year. Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor for his role as pianist Don Shirley in Green Book, making him one of the most awarded black actors in history. But the film was unpopular with some who saw the film as a retrograde portrayal of racial dynamics, including bigoted depictions of Italian Americans, at a time when more nuanced interpretations of history are readily available. "Every suspicion you might entertain — that this will be a sentimental tale of prejudices overcome and common humanity affirmed; that its politics will be as gently middle-of-the-road as its humor; that it will invite a measure of self-congratulation about how far we, as a nation, have come — will be confirmed," wrote critic A.O. Scott last year, calling the film "A Road Trip Through a Land of Racial Clichés." But as far as I'm concerned, the night belonged to April Reign, lawyer, activist, consultant, writer, speaker, and movement creator. It was Reign who galvanized a conversation about representation in the industry with a keen observation on the February morning the Oscar nominees were announced in 2015. "#OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair," she tweeted that morning, adding a side-eye emoji. She wasn't wrong. All twenty acting award slots had been filled by white nominees, a shut-out which hadn't happened since 1998. It was also the year that both Ava DuVernay, the director of the resplendent Selma, and David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King, Jr. in the film, were snubbed; yet another sign that the industry remained closed to diverse voices and unmoved by public sentiment. Reign's hashtag began trending immediately, unleashing one of the great pile-ons in Twitter history, with film fans and advocates uniting to demand that the Academy do better. The industry had some work to do: In 2015, Oscar voters were 94% white, 77% male and a median age of 62. And then, the proverbial needle began to move. A chastised and newly engaged Academy got to work and invited 322 new members in 2015, 683 in 2016, 774 in 2017, and 928 in 2018. Assuming all invitations were accepted and memberships maintained, The Hollywood Reporter says that Oscar voters should now be close to 31 percent women and 16 percent people of color. Reign has continued to be a force to be reckoned with, as she deftly leverages her moment into a movement of openness, visibility, and accountability in entertainment and beyond. And this year, she was invited to have a seat at the ceremony. "After creating the hashtag and working for almost five years to turn it into a movement that not only changed the Academy but made its way into so many other industries, I feel immense pride and a sense of coming full circle, back to the where it all began," she told The Hollywood Reporter. And Spike Lee made sure the world knew her name. Backstage, the new Oscar winner thanked Reign and former Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs for their roles in expanding academy membership. “Without them, I wouldn't be here tonight,” he said. “They opened up the Academy to make it more like America, to make it more diverse.” In typical April Reign style, she brought her followers along with her Instagram stories and on Twitter. "I'm so thankful to be in this room tonight, of all nights. If I had been able to choose any year, it would be this one. Thank you to everyone who reads this; you helped make it happen. #AprilsOscarWeekend #OscarsSoWhite." | 
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