Courtesy Photo, Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft

Thirty percent of people pushing movie theater turnstiles are black, but for films from 1990 through 2000, only 19 non-whites, or about eight percent of award nominees, were included in the top five categories: leading actor, leading actress, supporting actor, supporting actress and director. Only two - Whoop Goldberg (supporting actress in "Ghost") and Cuba Goading, Jr. (supporting actor in "Jerry Maguire") - actually won.

African Americans are not often in contention for Oscars is because of economics and race. Hollywood increasingly looks to foreign investors for financing of film productions and these investors prefer casts with whites as leading characters. International box office sales - which account for more than 46 percent of Hollywood's revenues - have shown that dramatic stories with ethnic leads do not sell as well as those starring white talent. In order for Hollywood to forge financial deals with international investors they have to be attuned to each country's cultural and racial sensibilities. The fear is that those audiences - which have 70,000 movie screens compared to 32, 000 in the U.S. - will not be able to identify with the roles African Americans play.

This market is growing seven percent annually, and films with white male stars tend to be bigger sellers there. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The 6th Day" made $34 million in the U.S., but garnered $67 million overseas. Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Beach" made $39 million here, but raked in $110 million in foreign markets. By contrast Denzel Washington's "Remember the Titans" made $115 domestically and only $45 million overseas. Samuel L. Jackson's version of "Shaft" made $71 million at home, only $14 abroad. With foreign money accounting for up to 70 percent of a movie or television show's financing, American producers negotiate content and casting to ensure films will make money in the international marketplace.

Another reason there is a lack of diversity in Oscar nominations is that Hollywood is a closed-door and segregated society. Eighty percent of the heads of each major guild are white men. Twelve of the 15 top executives with the power to green-light movies at the top studios are white males, and the other three are white women. Only when African American make their own films, or when the racial makeup of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences changes - currently 95 percent white - will we see more diversity in Oscar nominees and winners. Until the time when Hollywood changes, blacks darn well should find other sources of entertainment.