(Photo: Courtesy Vanity Fair Magazine)

This almost doesn’t seem worth the effort it will take to write or read this post. After all, nothing new has happened: Vanity Fair has released their annual Hollywood issue, with its three-fold cover showing starlets slinking around in various positions. And, like nearly every year, they have decided not to put a woman of color on the part of the picture that is on the front of the mag. To see that Black people exist (barely) in Hollywood, you’ll need to turn the page, unfold the pic and feast your eyes on Pariah’s Adepero Oduye and a more-light-skinned-than-usual Paula Patton, sporting a Princess Leia-inspired hairdo.

But before you do that, take a gander at the cover again. Who, you may be wondering, are those women deemed worthy enough of the most coveted spots? There is Mara Rooney, who did a deservedly critically-lauded job as Lisbeth Salander in Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a film that was crushed at the box office by Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (starring, of course, Paula Patton). There’s also Jennifer Lawrence, Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain. While Chastain was in The Help, last year’s most controversial hit, and Rooney was in one of the most hyped releases of 2011, there doesn’t seem to be any simple reason for why a brown or Black lady couldn’t put on her silky dress and smile from the front of the issue. Lest we use the r-word to explain Vanity Fair’s decision, in which case the reason for the cover’s whiteout becomes crystal clear.

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