*Gabrielle Union joined AM to DM this morning (05-09-18) to discuss her new film “Breaking In,” and share her thoughts on the lack of regard to black women’s voices in the recent reckoning of men in power.
Watch the full interview above with highlights below.
Pulling from her experience as a stepmother for her super-mom role in “Breaking In”:
“I’m a fierce advocate for the boys…Our sons are going to have the same opportunities as all the other kids whose tuition checks also cleared. I’m not the one to play with in that sense — education. I can’t imagine if their physical safety was in jeopardy if it was up to me. I’d like to think I could whoop a couple of people’s asses, but don’t try it.”
#TimesUp, #MeToo disregard women of color:
“The #MeToo movement was started by Tarana Burke because our voices are not amplified in the sexual violence movements… #TimesUp is about saying’ times up for everybody,’ but it tends to be the people who get the microphones turned up the loudest — [they] don’t always speak to the issues of black women or women of color. Our most vulnerable in society tend to be victims whose pain is very much tolerated, whose pain does not influence legislation…As a black woman who was raped, who was never questioned..and when I sued Payless Shoe Source and took a settlement no one accused me of taking a cash grab… If society can afford some compassion and empathy for me, we can afford that same belief in all victims.”
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The #MuteRKelly movement:
“The most abused, the most ignored and the most marginalized are black women. Our pain has, for centuries, has been very much tolerated and not prioritized. I also think there’s an immense amount of fear of being othered and ostracized…It scares people into remaining silent. No one wants to be the person that brings somebody down. And unfortunately that has allowed predators to walk among us for many years. For the victims, the silence and the inaction screams ‘you don’t matter.’
Urging people with platforms to speak up:
“#METOO is a phrase I have been Working diligently to never hear again. I implore anyone with access to a microphone..it is your responsibility to speak for the voiceless and to keep reminding people that all of our pain needs to be addressed.”
Collaboration among entertainers of color:
“There is a shift in how we have come together…It’s a coming together creatively where we’re not waiting…let’s come together and truly take over instead of waiting for a seat the table in a house that never rolled out the welcome mat for us to begin with. We’re building our own table.”
Empowering “Breaking In” theme:
“I save my damn self. Like women everywhere, we magically figure out how to save ourselves every day and do heroic things every day, all along the way.”
AM to DM airs live every day on BuzzFeed News via Twitter and live.twitter.com/AM2DM at 10am EST. Follow along @AM2DM using #AM2DM!
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