The 88th Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, will take place Feb. 28, and there are several celebrities who won’t be in attendance this year.

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo and Snoop Dogg, among others, are actively boycotting this year’s ceremony. Because all 20 nominees for best acting are white for the second year in a row.

Pressure on this year’s host, Chris Rock, to drop out of the show is quickly growing as calls for all those who were invited to join the boycott are taking over online media.

Although not invited to the awards, Tyrese Gibson, star of “Furious 7,” has continued to show his outrage over the lack of diversity among the nominations and has tried to encourage Rock to join the boycott.

Rolling Stone reported that 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said, “It would certainly be nice if everybody could be represented properly. And hopefully that’s the case, but perhaps it’s not the case.”

The Oscars boycott has deeper roots than just another Hollywood matter. It deals with serious implications of racial discrimination from the lack of diversity among the awards’ nominations.

Racial discrimination is still widespread in 2016, and it is profound to see the effect it has taken on such a prestigious award show and such highly respected, well-known figures in the media.

In Lexington, blacks and Hispanics make up about 20 percent of the population and whites about 75 percent.

UK students and the greater Lexington community are trying to shed light on situations of discrimination through the Black Lives Matter campaign, which strives to bring awareness to “the ways in which black lives are deprived of basic human rights and dignity,” according to the group’s website.

Students and members of the community can take a stand against racial discrimination and stand up for the basic human rights deserved by all people.

Frankly, it’s about time that communities band as one to spread awareness and work together to end discrimination against not just blacks, but all races.

The boycott of 2016’s Oscars is a great platform to encourage diversity and continue the fight against discrimination.

Paidin Dermody is a journalism and English freshman.

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