Ava DuVernay The Word ‘diversity’

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Ava DuVernay: I 'hate' the word 'diversity' - Ava DuVernay wants Hollywood to talk about diversity more, but she'd like to stop to stop using the word "diversity."

 “We’re hearing a lot about diversity,” the Selma director told the New York Times on Monday. “I hate that word so, so much.”

“I feel it’s a medicinal word that has no emotional resonance, and this is a really emotional issue,” she added. “It’s emotional for artists who are women and people of color to have less value placed on our worldview.”

Hollywood has been talking a lot about diversity since the announcement of this year's Oscar nominations. For the second year in a row the acting race is an all-white field. The subsequent outcry led to the Academy overhauling its rules for membership and pledging to double the number of women and people of color included in its ranks by 2020.

And when talking about the issue, DuVernay thinks "inclusion" is a better word to use. Or "belonging."

“There’s a belonging problem in Hollywood," DuVernay explained. “Who dictates who belongs? The very body who dictates that looks all one way.”

DuVernay also said she is pleased with the steps the Academy is taking so far.

“Change has to happen, it has to happen with the people who dictate who belongs,” she said. “It’s disconcerting to hear people say that shouldn’t change. That’s the very reason it should.”

She tweeted much the same the day the changes were announced.