OPRAH WINFREY'S SPEECH
AT THE 2018 GOLDEN GLOBES
Source: ABC News
In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for Best Actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: “The winner is Sidney Poitier.” Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen. I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black—and I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that. And I tried have tried many, many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning other people’s houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney’s performance in Lilies of the Field: “Amen, amen, amen, amen.”
In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for Best Actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: “The winner is Sidney Poitier.” Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen. I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black—and I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that. And I tried have tried many, many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning other people’s houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney’s performance in Lilies of the Field: “Amen, amen, amen, amen.”
In 1982, Sidney received the
Cecil B. DeMille award right here at the Golden Globes and it is not lost on me
that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first
black woman to be given this same award. It is an honor—it is an honor and it
is a privilege to share the evening with all of them and also with the
incredible men and women who’ve inspired me, who’ve challenged me, who’ve
sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible. Dennis Swanson who
took a chance on me for A.M. Chicago. Quincy Jones who saw me on that
show and said to Steven Spielberg, “Yes, she is Sophia in The Color Purple.”
Gayle, who’s been the definition of what a friend is and Stedman, who’s been my
rock. Just a few to name.
I’d like to thank the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association, because we all know the press is under
siege these days. But we also know that it is the insatiable dedication to uncovering
the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to
injustice. To—to tyrants and victims and secrets and lies. I want to say that I
value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated
times, which brings me to this: What I know for sure is that speaking your
truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I’m especially proud and
inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to
speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are
celebrated because of the stories that we tell, and this year, we became the
story.
But it’s not just a story
affecting the entertainment industry. It’s one that transcends any culture,
geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace. So I want tonight to express
gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because
they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to
pursue. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic
workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in
restaurants and they’re in academia and engineering and medicine and science.
They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They’re our
athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.
And there’s someone else,
Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too. In 1944, Recy
Taylor was a young wife and a mother. She was just walking home from a church
service she’d attended in Abbeville, Alabama, when she was abducted by six
armed white men, raped, and left blindfolded by the side of the road coming
home from church. They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her
story was reported to the NAACP where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks
became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice. But
justice wasn’t an option in the era of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy
her were never persecuted. Recy Taylor died 10 days ago, just shy of her 98th
birthday. She lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by
brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if
they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is
up. Their time is up.
Their time is up. And I just
hope—I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth
of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now
tormented, goes marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Parks’s heart almost 11
years later, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in
Montgomery, and it’s here with every woman who chooses to say, “Me too.” And
every man—every man who chooses to listen.
In my career, what I’ve
always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say
something about how men and women really behave. To say how we experience
shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and
how we overcome. And I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood
some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of
them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even
during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here and now to know
that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will
be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this
room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that
they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say “me
too” again. Thank you.
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