A year has passed since I wrote my article concerning the request for a history dedicated to the history of white people. It feels like that year flew by, a fact which may be indicative of my belief that not much has changed in the landscape of this country’s conversation about race and the black experience. I would certainly be remiss to not talk about the election of Donald Trump and the impact of his administration. That said, instead of dwelling on this, I want to shine a light on a different source of hope: awards shows. Surprisingly – and very differently from the conversation we could have had last year about these shows – they have recently become a place that values black people’s contributions. I would like to look into the future to find what 2017 might have in store.

Our president believes that Frederick Douglass is still alive and is still doing great work. He also targeted a black female journalist who asked a question about the Black Caucus in Congress and assumed she would be the one to set up a meeting for him because they surely would be friends because they’re all black. With the rise of Trump has also come the rise of the alt-right, or neo-Nazis. I won’t write a piece on the rise of white nationalism, but I will say that it is undoubtedly happening. While we may not see klansmen roaming around with their attire on all the time, the attire has changed into everyday clothing and the rhetoric has become much less explicit. The idea of making America great again is essentially a call to all white people to reclaim what they perceive to be their country, ignorantly disregarding the fact that most Americans came here as illegal immigrants: either as individuals with no claims to land or in bondage, packed in like sardines with thousands of other people on a trek across the Atlantic Ocean.

This “great” America does not really benefit black people at all. How are we supposed to exist when the regime that promotes this ideology has the power? I don’t have all of the answers, but resistance seems to be our best bet as of now. If the Women’s March was any indication of what it looks like when a bunch of people make their voice heard, the potential for black people to have our voices and concerns heard is definitely there. On a smaller scale, I get the sense that the rise of white nationalism is a reflection of some people feeling more comfortable sharing their ideas than they were before. I would challenge everyone – not just black people – to check those who may be trying to devalue the lives of others. Donald Trump has only been in office for a month or so. It feels like we’ve already been through a full term. It’ll be interesting to see how the landscape morphs and changes this year. What will our call to action be?

Surprisingly, we might be able to turn somewhere nobody would have ever thought to run before: awards shows. We’ve already seen awards shows acknowledging the great work that black people have done in film and music. However, it’s not as amazing at it may seem on the surface. It’s not like awards shows have suddenly turned into a safe haven; there’s still work to be done and breakthroughs to be made. Personally, I think it’s weird that there seems to be a belief that being nominated for an award is enough progress. Why should black people be satisfied with only getting nominated? I’m sure those actors, actresses, and directors want to win as much as any other nominee does. Why can’t they be bold and wish to achieve the greatest amount of glory? I don’t buy the idea that it’s because the quality of the movies or the acting is not the best.

I feel like people don’t watch or don’t appreciate works with black people and people of color because they think they can’t relate to the story. They don’t see themselves as the star of the show for the first time in their lives and subconsciously it must mean that the movie isn’t for them or that it’s somehow not of the greatest quality. That’s interesting. Has anyone thought about how people of color have always been forced to find relatable stories in movies that didn’t feature people who looked like them as stars or even at all? Maybe that’s why television stations like BET and Centric exist, so that black people don’t forget that we exist and that we’re also talented. I think this year’s release of movies like “Hidden Figures,” “Moonlight,” and “Fences” represent the hope that moviegoers will finally realize that some stories are universally relatable.

As you can probably deduce from reading this article, I see the future as incredibly unpredictable. It seems like there’s so much potential for progress and advancement for black people, but every time we see a new source of potential, another hate group rises out of the woodwork. So, what might 2017 have in store? It’s completely up in the air.