Orange is the New Black star Dascha Polanco found herself in hot water on Wednesday (July 29). There were many people celebrating following the announcement of the Emmy nominations, but the Latinx community wasn't as happy as everyone else. They didn't see themselves represented as much as they'd like, sparking a discussion that spilled over into social media.
Actor John Leguizamo tweeted, "Why can't we Latinx have a piece of the pie? We are the largest ethnic group in America and missing as if we didn't exist!" Dascha added to his tweet and wrote, "If Its only us speaking up on it, no one cares. It's the silence from those that fight for equality but only their equality. Diversity but Diverse enough to include thyself That mentality of 'As long as I'm good; I don't see a **** thing.'"
The public, specifically Black people, didn't appreciate Dascha's tweets. They believed she was saying that the reason there is a lack of Latinx people represented is that Black people and the Black Lives Matter movement has failed to support other cultures. After being criticized on social media, Dascha Polanco returned with a video to explain her previous thoughts.
"It was not shading our Black community. Blackness is in my DNA as a Dominican, as an Afro-Latina, as a whole," Dascha said. "What I'm referring to is, we cannot sit here and say we are snubbed and write these articles and all these kinds of things when we ourselves are not doing our due diligence to create the work, to create the opportunities. We can't claim diversity but when you're good, then everything else is okay."
She added that "diversity" is also about pay gaps, positions, and "equality across the board." Check out her explanation below along with a few more tweets where she further attempts to clarify her original thoughts..