Post-Oscars, President Obama Makes a Pertinent Point About Kids of Color in This PSA

This PSA from President Obama's My Brother's Keeper program starts with an Academy Awards-style announcement. It's actually a prediction of a far-off future -- best actor in a leading role in 2024 -- but it's particularly pertinent following the outcry about the lack of black Oscar nominees in 2016.

The film, which aired on Sunday night during the MTV Movie Awards, shows a montage of images of young boys of color, set to a voiceover announcing them not just as Oscar winners, but as Fullbright scholars, valedictorians, poets, Nobel prizewinners and more. It ends with a message from President Obama saying: "If we believe in their futures, they will believe in them too."

My Brother's Keeper is a program that exists to make opportunities available to young boys of color that would not be otherwise there -- and the point of the PSA is that young boys of color need to see more reaffirming messages that make them believe that they can succeed. That's a message, it implies, that even an entertainment organization like the Academy Awards ought to take seriously.

The film was created by Matter Unlimited, produced by Mass Appeal and directed by Marcus Clarke at Decon.