Kerry Washington accepts the Equity in Entertainment Award at The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual Women in Entertainment gala.
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00:00 And to Beyonce.
00:02 (audience laughing)
00:03 Yes!
00:04 Oh my God, thank you Ariana for that beautiful introduction.
00:09 My God, what can't you do?
00:11 (audience laughing)
00:14 Thank you to the Hollywood Reporter
00:17 for this extraordinary honor,
00:19 and especially to the co-editors-in-chief,
00:21 Nikesa Mambimudin and Mayor Roshan.
00:26 Thank you to my mom and my Aunt Daph,
00:29 who are here this morning.
00:31 (audience applauding)
00:33 My mother and my other mother.
00:34 And to my team, so many of you are here,
00:38 Gretchen, we, Tracy, Angela, Katie,
00:42 Michelle, Kath, Pilar, Nicole, Greg.
00:45 I would not be up here without your support
00:49 and your commitment and your courage.
00:51 Okay.
00:56 And congratulations to all of the recipients,
01:01 the scholarship recipients, today's honorees and awardees,
01:05 the participants in the mentorship program.
01:07 I love this event.
01:09 Every year, I love being in this room filled with women
01:14 and a few of our allies, like Will.
01:18 (audience laughing)
01:19 Thank you to all of the evolved men in the room.
01:22 Usually, when I come here, I really love to,
01:25 you know, like just like hang out and kiki
01:28 and network a little, see some friends
01:31 and listen and get inspired.
01:34 But it occurred to me like a week ago
01:36 that I guess this year, I'm supposed to be
01:40 one of the people doing the talking, not the listening.
01:43 So I went back to my email because I was like,
01:46 what is this award for?
01:47 And I reread it.
01:51 Thank you, publicist.
01:52 Thank you, Katie, Michelle, for sending me that.
01:54 And it said equity and entertainment.
01:56 And so like my fellow nerdy friend, Ariana,
01:59 I looked up like, what is equity?
02:02 What is it?
02:03 So I have three kids.
02:06 They range in age from seven to 18.
02:08 But last year, my nine-year-old, Gracie,
02:11 she was in third grade, and they were talking about equity.
02:15 In fact, the whole class was talking about the difference
02:18 between equity and equality and justice.
02:23 When my husband and I went in for parent-teacher conferences,
02:25 there were all these drawings hanging on the wall
02:27 done by the students to help explain exactly
02:29 what the differences are, equity, equality, justice.
02:32 It really helped to make the distinction clear.
02:34 So it made me think a lot.
02:36 So I'm gonna try to paint a similar picture for you today.
02:39 But I really want you to be able to see this.
02:41 So if you don't mind indulging me,
02:42 I'm gonna ask each of you to close your eyes
02:44 for just a moment.
02:45 I want you to try to see this in your mind.
02:49 Picture a wooden fence.
02:53 It's about four feet tall.
02:54 And on the other side of that fence
02:56 is a beautiful orchard filled with apple trees.
03:00 Now picture three kids, all about the same height,
03:03 and they're standing on this side of the fence with us,
03:05 and they're trying, they're struggling
03:07 to get a better view of what's on the other side
03:10 of the fence.
03:11 Now remember, the fence is four feet high from ground level.
03:15 But the problem is the ground on this side of the fence
03:18 is uneven.
03:20 It slopes down along the fence
03:22 so that even though the kids are the same size,
03:24 only one of them can see over it.
03:27 The next kid is about one foot
03:30 from being able to see over the fence.
03:31 And the third kid is kind of in a ditch,
03:34 about two feet below the top of the fence.
03:37 So the two kids who are not on level ground,
03:40 they're like jumping and bouncing
03:42 and standing on their tippy toes
03:44 'cause they really wanna see over the fence.
03:46 You can open your eyes.
03:48 So first let's talk about equality.
03:52 When we talk about equality,
03:53 what we usually mean, as Ariana said,
03:55 is that everybody should get the exact same thing
03:57 all the time, same, same, same,
03:58 same resources, same opportunities.
04:00 So in the story of these three kids,
04:02 that means that maybe somebody comes along with a box
04:04 that's about one foot high, right?
04:06 Three boxes.
04:06 They give the exact same box to all three kids.
04:10 Is it helpful?
04:12 You tell me.
04:13 Maybe you need to close your eyes again.
04:15 The kid who could already see over the fence
04:17 is now towering over the fence
04:20 and is like, huh, maybe I should just jump this fence,
04:23 climb inside the orchard and get some apples.
04:26 The second kid can now just barely see into the orchard
04:30 and is amazed.
04:32 She's trying to make sense of it.
04:33 She's wrapping her head around the vast landscape
04:36 of apple trees that she wasn't able to see before.
04:40 And the third kid, well, she still can't see over the fence.
04:44 The problem is that that ditch,
04:47 it's deeper than one box can fix.
04:51 So everyone has gotten the same resources, equal assistance,
04:54 but not all three kids are gonna go home with apples.
04:57 Not unless they work together
04:58 and maybe not unless we step in and acknowledge
05:00 that they each need a different level of support,
05:03 a different kind of assistance.
05:05 That's the challenge with equality.
05:07 Giving the same thing to different people
05:09 who are at different starting points
05:10 doesn't allow everyone the same opportunity to succeed.
05:14 Does that mean we shouldn't give?
05:15 Of course not.
05:17 We have to give.
05:17 What's happening here today in terms of giving
05:19 is extraordinary.
05:20 I'm so moved year after year
05:23 by the generosity in this room.
05:24 So many of you offering your time
05:26 and your talent and your treasure.
05:29 But now let's talk about equity.
05:32 From a social science, civic justice perspective,
05:35 equity, the equity model,
05:37 is not about giving every person the same box.
05:40 Equity is about taking the time and paying attention
05:43 to who needs what kind of box
05:45 and how many boxes and how and maybe why.
05:49 It's not a simple formula that can be cut and pasted
05:52 from person to person.
05:53 Equity requires presence and awareness
05:58 and patience and vulnerability and listening.
06:03 Equity is not simple
06:06 and it's not easy to get it right all the time.
06:08 It's nuanced.
06:10 It can be complicated.
06:12 Sometimes it's scary
06:14 because equity asks us to pause and to see each other,
06:19 to consider each other's unique circumstances
06:22 because let's be clear,
06:23 this is not a level playing field.
06:26 We are not in real life on equal ground.
06:30 Many of us, because of our gender,
06:33 because of our race, our socioeconomic reality,
06:36 our zip code, our sexuality, our religion,
06:38 our physical ability, our personal traumas,
06:41 many of us are born in a ditch,
06:44 a deep ditch that has been carved out
06:46 by systems of inequity.
06:48 And don't get me wrong,
06:49 I know who we are.
06:50 We are scrappy.
06:51 We know how to climb.
06:53 We jump.
06:53 We reach.
06:54 But we also need boxes.
06:56 We might still need some of those boxes.
06:59 At times, my box came in the form of a mentor
07:03 or a scholarship or a therapist or a manager
07:08 or maybe even a movie I watched
07:11 or a novel that I read that helped me to see over the fence
07:14 and beyond the limitations of these marginalizing systems.
07:19 I needed that support.
07:20 I needed it to see into that orchard
07:23 and climb over that fence and eat.
07:26 No matter what neighborhood we were born into
07:28 or how much money our family has
07:30 or how we identify or what we believe,
07:32 we deserve our apples.
07:35 We deserve entry into the orchard.
07:37 (audience applauding)
07:38 That's what equity looks like.
07:42 But listen, we have a long way to get there.
07:46 So what does this mean for entertainment?
07:48 Well, I don't think we can unlock equity
07:51 until we're able to really see each other
07:53 and understand who we are
07:54 and where we come from and what we need.
07:56 We don't cultivate equity without making space
07:59 for each other's truths.
08:01 When stories from all different people
08:03 and backgrounds are told
08:04 and people see their story reflected in media
08:07 and in culture,
08:08 that starts to weave a thread where everyone is included.
08:11 That's the path to equity.
08:13 That's why centering stories about marginalized people
08:16 is so important.
08:18 This is why heroes have to look like all of us.
08:22 Our stories, our movies, our music,
08:25 art teaches us to stop and slow down
08:27 and really see ourselves and see each other.
08:31 I'm being given this honor today
08:33 for amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities.
08:37 I guess in a way for using storytelling
08:39 and narrative entertainment as a box
08:42 that uplifts characters and communities
08:44 to get them to get us over the fence and into the orchard.
08:49 At "Simpson Street" every day,
08:51 we're asking people to step into these stories with us
08:54 and consider each other's deeper humanity
08:56 with projects like "Confirmation" and "American Son"
08:59 and "Little Fires Everywhere"
09:00 and God bless Norman Lear live in front of a studio audience
09:03 and "Unprisoned" and "Reasonable Doubt."
09:06 We're asking people to pause and reconsider assumptions.
09:10 The assumptions we make about history and identity
09:13 and family and power and the criminal justice system
09:17 and feminism and abortion rights and immigration.
09:20 But we aren't trafficking in these themes
09:24 because we wanna be overtly political
09:26 or singularly focused on equity.
09:29 We just believe that stories about everybody
09:32 and about the complicated truths of our time
09:35 are worth telling.
09:36 So we tell them with a lot of laughter and drama
09:40 and danger and sex appeal and beauty
09:45 and cliffhangers galore.
09:48 Whether it's the stories we're telling
09:50 or the advocacy work that we do
09:52 around civic engagement and voting justice
09:54 at my company Across Verticals,
09:56 we believe in agency,
09:58 in developing people's own power to transform their lives
10:02 and encouraging people to see themselves
10:04 as the lead character in the story of their lives.
10:08 But I know that that's not always easy.
10:11 I wrote my memoir, "Thicker Than Water,"
10:13 partly because I realized that I wasn't living my life
10:18 as the protagonist of my story.
10:21 But if you know anything about the book,
10:23 then you know that I also struggled
10:25 with what it meant to center myself
10:27 on my own hero's journey
10:28 while still honoring the full humanity of my parents.
10:32 Ironically, in the end,
10:34 my parents are the heroes of my memoir.
10:37 But I think that's so much of what the battle for equity
10:42 is going to require.
10:44 That we, as we step into the center of our lives
10:48 and of our stories, as women, as people of color,
10:52 as members of the LGBTQ+ community,
10:55 as people with differently abled bodies
10:57 from marginalized religions,
10:59 that we then also be willing to uplift others
11:04 and to be supporting characters in their stories
11:08 so that they can be the lead characters
11:10 in their own lives too.
11:12 And I think--
11:14 (audience applauding)
11:17 When I stand up here and look at you guys,
11:19 I think that's what today is about, right?
11:21 It's about stepping into our power
11:23 and then sharing it with each other.
11:26 It is so beautiful to be here
11:29 and to feel that, that sense of community and generosity.
11:32 And I think that's how we get to that third word.
11:35 I think that's how we get to justice.
11:37 Because justice isn't about giving everybody
11:39 the exact same box,
11:41 and it's not even about giving out the right kind of boxes
11:44 to exactly who needs them
11:45 so that everybody can get over the fence.
11:47 Justice is about leveling the ground
11:51 and ripping the fucking fence down.
11:54 (audience applauding)
11:56 Justice is about dismantling the systems
12:00 that prevent us from getting
12:02 to the other side of our greatness.
12:05 And we have to do that together.
12:08 Mornings like this are so special
12:09 because they are a glorious glimpse
12:11 into what that might feel like one day.
12:14 So thank you all for being here.
12:16 Thank you for this honor.
12:17 I'm gonna do everything I can to try to live up to it.
12:20 And I pray that all year long,
12:23 we continue to celebrate one another
12:24 and support each other and lift each other up
12:27 as we work together toward a world with more equity
12:30 and more equality and more justice and apples for all.
12:35 (audience applauding)
12:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]