“We can’t let minorities be pitted against each other.” – Kerry Washington
Scandal star Kerry Washington delivered a powerful speech on what it means to be ‘other’, while accepting an award from GLAAD. The actress was honoured with the Vanguard Award at Sunday’s GLAAD Media Awards.
She said: “You would think that those of us kept from our full rights of citizenship would band together, but history tells us we often don’t.
“Women, poor people, people of colour, people with disabilities, immigrants, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, intersex people… we have been pitted against each other and made to feel like there are limited seats at the table for those of us who fall into the category of ‘other’.
“As a result, we have become afraid of one another. We compete with one another. We judge one another. Sometimes we betray one another. Sometimes even within our own communities, we designate who is best suited to represent us, and who shouldn’t even be invited to the party.
“As others, we are taught that to be successful we must reject those other others, or we will never really belong.”
She continued: “When black people today tell me that they don’t believe in gay marriage… the first thing that I say is ‘please don’t let anybody try to get you to vote against your own best interest by feeding you messages of hate.’
“Then I say ‘you know people used to say stuff like that about you and your love’, and if we let the government start to legislate love, who do you think is next?’.”
Of the TV industry, she said: “There is so much power in storytelling, and there is enormous power in inclusive storytelling, in inclusive representations.
“We need more LGBT representation in the media. We need more LGBT characters and more LGBT storytelling. We need more diverse LGBT representation, and, by that, I mean lots of different kinds of LGBT people living all different kinds of lives.”
“We must see each other, all of us, and we must see ourselves, until we are no longer firsts, and exceptions, and rare, and unique.”
Watch below the video of her speech.
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25 Comments
MacArdry
March 24, 04:03“….we have become afraid of one
another. We compete with one another. We
judge one another. Sometimes we betray one
another. Sometimes even within our own
communities, we designate who is best suited
to represent us, and who shouldn’t even be
invited to the party.”
Seem someone has been reading and observing happenings on kitodiaries
Gad
March 24, 10:06I tell you
Dennis Macaulay
March 24, 04:35Well said Kerry, well said! There are even gay people who do not support gay marriage! What shall we say to them
A-non
March 24, 04:47Breaking out of silos…shattering glass ceilings…crossing boundaries
I’d say we are making some progress even here in Nigeria, some may argue that it’s slow but it’s happening.
10years ago, you may never have come out to the number of people you have come out to…
10 years ago, women who wore trousers were still looked at as being wayward.
10 years ago, being a certain tribe in a certain industry meant there was a limit you could get to.
10 years ago, Pinky wouldn’t have dared starting this blog.
10 years ago, Dennis would never have dared to sign off to being single for life and not hear the voice of society stronger than it is today, in fact a single guy may be considered for a management team position simply because he is still single.
Change sometimes has to be served in small doses if it must happen and I’d say that’s the way it’s been for us here in Nigeria in several strata of life.
#babysteps
enigmous
March 24, 05:08Need I say more?
A-non, you brought it to church hun. Very deep thoughts.
Dennis, Oya go and try your luck elsewhere.
Singing Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” for you.
Dennis Macaulay
March 24, 05:12Enigmous if i bite you eh
Dennis Macaulay
March 24, 05:11A-non this is beautifully true. It has always been my position that things are changing here albeit slowly. Homophobia is on a slow decline here as many Nigerians are becoming indifferent! However it will take three generations or more for a complete change to happen.
A-non
March 24, 05:22Complete hasn’t happened in the US and it’s 2015.
Dennis…patience.
Max
March 24, 08:46@A-non, its like you’ve been drinking from the fountain of wisdom… Nice one..
Khaleesi
March 24, 10:00/***looks @ you wish mascaraed eyes full of pity*** change??, its like you dont really know your people!! Homophobia is flourishing and thriving and waxing strong in this country, even as change might occur in other areas. By the time you are able to see the kind of change you want, maybe we would mostly be confined to rocking chairs and walking sticks … are you truly sure it’d be worth it to wait till then?
Sinnex
March 24, 06:21So she had to read from a paper….
pinkpanthertb
March 24, 06:53I wondered about that too. They coulda hired a teleprompter nah
Mitch
March 24, 06:29Well said Kerry! Minorities need to stop fighting against themselves and bamd together. Only when we do that would we discover that we are more powerful than the so-called majority.
bobby
March 24, 06:58Do I love this girl or do I love her?
KyrxxX
March 24, 07:25Spot on!!
The competition is actually the most annoying part! There is room in d sky for every star to shine nd I guess we all know how large a single star is.
Putting ur kind down won’t get u anywhere but instead create a vicious cycle all thanks to Queen Karma II!
Nicely said Kerry! By d way, can I still ur lips? I luvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv them……….
. Pete
March 24, 07:46On point
Ruby
March 24, 08:37Beautifully said Kerry!
Bravo!
The sooner we learn to love and appreciate each other as members of a minority, the better it will be for us to stand for what we believe in irrespective of our individual “differences”
Teflondon
March 24, 08:52**some please hand me a tissue**
“We must see each other, all of us, and we must see ourselves, until we are no longer firsts, and exceptions, and rare, and unique.”
These words literally brought me to tears.. For those that don’t really understand the meaning of the words above. It further buttress what I have being saying on here for while.. We need to stop seeking people’s pity. We need to stop this self assurance we seek from ‘loved ones’ it’s us the minority that can really help ourselves. We need to stop this ‘Moaning at every oppurtuity’ attitude when things don’t go our way…
We need to stop seeking to be treated specially.
All we need is to stick together (LGBT) and live our lifes normally without having this ‘the world is against me mentality’ we carry around. Regardless of what people say about you.. You can chose to take it on board or not.
That need to be paid attention to, to be treated specially by people around you by your loved once.. Will only continue to drive home the fact that we are the ‘Other’ we are not like everyone else. We don’t need other people’s assurances, we don’t need to feel rare or unique becasue of our sexuality. It’s who we are.. We should be proud and feel normal. having this ‘defensive mechanism’ mentality and self pity (I.e the need to come out to your loved once) will only allow people to continue to regard us as ‘Other’
Kerry’s statements are very deep.. Regardless she read it from paper or not. The contents are deep. And I reason in so many ways with her.
God bless her.
She’s not only Olivia Pope in movies after all.. She is in every regard in reality.
Khaleesi
March 24, 10:21as long as the majority of the LGBT community here has internalised the homophobic notion that being gay is wrong and evil and is to be suppressed/changed,progress cannot be made …
Max
March 24, 09:07Ok, just watched it… It’s better watched than read.. Standing ovation..
Ya’ll should stop mising your data bundle and watch it..
Bravo Kerry…bravo!!
tobby
March 24, 09:21I think I just fell in love with her…
Khaleesi
March 24, 10:19living in an open, tolerant society where critical and rational thought is elevated over and above outdated medieval religious doctrines held forth as a veil (unsuccessfully of course) over naked bigotry, can work wonders for the human mind. As long as Nigerians remain stupefied under the fumes of opium, we shall never see a scene like this … i hate to burst all y’all’s bubbles, but i must say the naked truth ….
Teflondon
March 24, 12:54Khaleesi Do I always have to put a dictionary at the sides.. Before I can read your comments?!!
In other unrelated issue
All the “Igbo” comments I am seeing on this blog lately is giving me all types of head ache.. Jeez!!
Max
March 24, 15:36I’m sure you’re Igbo… And you hate seeing Igbo comments… Smh
Teflondon
March 24, 15:57**shrugs**
Not today Max! Not today!
**looks away**