Lupita Nyong'o Just Schooled Everyone on the Oscars and Racial Prejudice

The #OscarsSoWhite was just a hashtag last year. This year, it feels like a movement. And the latest person to join the movement is Lupita Nyong'o, whose performance in the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave earned her the Academy Award for best supporting actress. 

Nyong'o posted a statement late Tuesday night to her Instagram. 

"I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations," Nyong'o wrote, adding that the nominations spurred her to think about unconscious prejudice and what is considered prestigious.

"The awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today," she wrote. "I stand with my peers who are calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them." 

At this point, Nyong'o has quite a few peers to stand with. Jada Pinkett Smith has also called for a change in the awards and went so far as to boycott this year's ceremony. She explained her boycott in a video posted to her Facebook page. 

Director Spike Lee, who received an honorary Oscar in November, also said in an Instagram post that he would be boycotting the Oscars.

On Monday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which nominates and awards the Oscars, made a statement on its Facebook page regarding the racial controversy. 

"I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion," academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs wrote. "This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes." 

Watch the latest episode of Mic Check on how to fix the Academy Awards below.