After watching Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globe speech, I felt so empowered. I haven’t had this feeling in ages – the kind of feeling you get when someone says something so powerful that you think that change is possible, and that there are good and bad days. But whatever day it may be, it’s important to not give up.
Oprah said, “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.”
She also talked about the kind of people she interviewed and how these large number of people share one thing in common,“an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights.”
Oprah was awarded the Cecil B DeMille award at the Golden Globes where she gave a phenomenal speech. She took us down memory lane when she started her speech by telling us about the time she was watching the 36th Academy Awards with her mother, when Sidney Poitier – a black man, was awarded the best actor award in 1964. Who knew, 54 years later, Oprah, would receive the prestigious Cecil B DeMille award at the Golden Globes. She made history by being the first black woman to receive this award.
In her speech, she mentions a particular incident that shook her. Recy Taylor, a black woman was raped by six armed white men on her way back from church.“They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice,” said Oprah.
However, during Recy’s lifetime, she never received any justice and the men were never prosecuted. Recy died 10 days ago, before 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.”
You could gauge how well she delivered her speech with the audience’s reaction.
The subtleties of the cameraman to capture the littlest of moments were phenomenal. The teary eyes, the smiles that said everything you needed to say without uttering a word. You could see how everyone just wanted the same thing – to end harassment once and for all.
By then, I was teary eyed and gasping for breath. My little heart had not felt this good in ages. This self-made billionaire knows how to get things across perfectly.
She and many other powerful women decided to show up to the Golden Globes wearing black to support an initiative called “Time’s up”. An initiative funded by Hollywood actors and actresses themselves to end sexual harassment. Meryl Streep and Reese Witherspoon have each donated $500,000 to this initiative. Steven Spielberg donated a million dollars to support this initiative. Time’s Up was launched on January 1, 2018, to tackle sexual harassment. “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.” To all the powerful men out I say your times up.
I think there’s no better way to end this post, but with Oprah’s own words “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.”