Delroy Lindo received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.” His performance in the film was astounding, so this is well deserved. However, at 73 years old it’s a bit late for him to get his FIRST nomination. Lindo could have been nominated for his performance in “Malcolm X,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Crooklyn” and especially for “Clockers.” So why did it take so long?
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The answer is simple. Like most things in America, the Oscars have never been a level playing field for Black folks.
The list of Black actors who were snubbed by the Oscars is long and distinguished. Samuel L. Jackson should have won for his performance in “Pulp Fiction” Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne both should have won for their roles in “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Eddie Murphy never won an Oscar despite giving great performances in “Dreamgirls” and “Dolemite Is My Name.” David Oyelowo was outstanding in “Selma” and “12 Years A Slave,” but was shut out of the Oscar race. Regina Hall, Idris Elba, Danielle Deadwyler, the late-Michael K. Williams…these are all stellar actors who gave impressive performances who were never nominated for an Academy Award. There are many reasons these snubs keep happening but let’s talk about the biggest one.
#OscarsSoWhite
In January 2015, April Reign noticed that all 20 nominations in acting categories at the 87th Academy Awards were as white as the driven snow. Frustrated, she tweeted, “#OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair.”
The hashtag gained widespread momentum in 2015, and returned in 2016 when nominations were again lily white. This forced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the body that awards the Oscars) to address these industry-wide inequities. They changed the makeup of the voting body by increasing the number of women and were intentional about asking members of underrepresented groups to join.
Let me put you on game and explain why this is significant. Prior to this push to diversify, the voters for the Oscars were whiter than the folks you’d find at a Taylor Swift concert. To put it another way, only 2% of Academy voters were Black. Things are a better now…but barely.
In 2025, 80% of Academy voters are frequent eaters of green bean casserole. In other words, they are white. The Academy invited more Black folks to the table, but their presence will not be fully felt for a few years. We have to wait for the people who thought it was a good idea to award Driving Miss Daisy the Oscar for Best Picture to die off.
So that’s the easy answer for why actors like Delroy Lindo keep getting overlooked during awards season. But there are other, more complex, reasons.
White Saviors and Black Patience
For decades, Hollywood prioritized stories that centered white narratives. And even when Black folks are central to the story, the experience of white people is what the film is really about. So Black actors getting the kinds of roles that get Oscar attention can be difficult to come by. (Of course these tend to be films where white people “save” Black folks.)
Then there years that Black actors break through.
In the early 2000s, there was an unprecedented run of Black actors and actresses winning Oscars. Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker all were awarded for their performances in movies like “Training Day,” “Ray” and “Monster’s Ball.”
After their wins, the Oscars went back to almost exclusively giving Academy Awards to white performers. As Eddie Murphy pointed out in 1998, it feels like if the Academy awards too many Black people, there has to be something of a waiting period before they award another. In other words, Black folks must have patience if they want to see people from our community win Oscars.
Ultimately, Delroy Lindo and other Black actors don’t fail to be nominated for and win Oscars. It’s the Academy who fails to recognize Black excellence.
Straight From 
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