00:12I've been so happy to be here.
00:21Ah!
00:28Thank you all.
00:41Okay.
00:42Okay.
00:44Thank you, Reese.
00:48In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother's house in Milwaukee,
00:57watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for Best Actor at the 36th Academy Awards.
01:06She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history.
01:13The winner is Sidney Poitier.
01:17Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen.
01:23I remember his tie was white and, of course, his skin was black, and I'd never seen a black
01:29man being celebrated like that.
01:31And I have tried many, many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl,
01:42a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone-tired from cleaning other people's
01:50houses.
01:51But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney's performance in Lilies of the Phil,
01:58amen, amen, amen, amen.
02:04In 1982, Sidney received the Cicely B. DeMille Award right here at the Golden Globes,
02:09and it is not lost on me that at this moment there are some little girls watching as I become
02:18the first black woman
02:19to be given the same award.
02:30It is an honor, it is an honor, and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of
02:37them
02:38and also with the incredible men and women who've inspired me, who've challenged me,
02:43who've sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible.
02:46Dennis Swanson, who took a chance on me for AM Chicago.
02:49Quincy Jones, who saw me on that show and said to Steven Spielberg,
02:53yes, she is Sophia in the Color Purple.
02:55Gail, who has been the definition of what a friend is,
02:58and Stedman, who's been my rock, just a few to name.
03:01I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,
03:04because we all know that the press is under siege these days,
03:09but we also know that it is the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth
03:15truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice,
03:25to tyrants and victims and secrets and lies.
03:31I want to say that I value the press more than ever before,
03:36as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this.
03:44What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.
03:53And I'm especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough
03:59and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories.
04:04Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell.
04:11And this year, we became the story.
04:16But it's not just a story affecting the entertainment industry.
04:20It's one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace.
04:29So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and
04:37assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed, and bills to pay, and dreams to pursue.
04:52They, they, they're the women whose names we'll never know.
04:57They are domestic workers and farm workers.
05:01They are working in factories, and they work in restaurants,
05:05and they're in academia and engineering and medicine and science.
05:08They're part of the world of tech and politics and business.
05:11There are athletes in the Olympics, and there are soldiers in the military.
05:15And there's someone else, Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know too.
05:24In 1944, Recy Taylor was a young wife and a mother.
05:29She was just walking home from a church service.
05:31She'd attended in Abbeville, Alabama, when she was abducted by six armed white men raped and left blindfolded
05:40by the side of the road, coming home from church.
05:43They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the NAACP
05:50where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case.
05:59And together, they sought justice.
06:02But justice wasn't an option in the era of Jim Crow.
06:06The men who tried to destroy her were never persecuted.
06:11Recy Taylor died 10 days ago, just shy of her 98th birthday.
06:19She lived, as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men.
06:28For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power
06:35of those men.
06:38But their time is up.
06:47Their time is up.
07:03And I just hope, I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth of so
07:13many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented, goes marching on.
07:20It was somewhere in Rosa Parks' heart almost 11 years later when she made the decision to stay seated on
07:26that bus in Montgomery.
07:28And it's here with every woman who chooses to say, me too.
07:33And every man, every man, every man who chooses to listen.
07:41In my career, what I've always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film,
07:48is to say something about how men and women really behave, to say how we experience shame, how we love,
07:59and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and how we overcome.
08:08And I've interviewed and portrayed people who've withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you.
08:13But the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning,
08:21even during our darkest nights.
08:24So I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon.
08:36And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women,
08:49many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men,
08:56fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has
09:06to say, me too, again.
