Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell, Harper Steele, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Brittney and Cherelle Griner had been all honored at the ACLU of Southern California’s Invoice of Rights Awards on Sunday, in an evening that centered closely on Donald Trump‘s election win and the longer term combat for civil rights.
Ruffalo, who campaigned closely for Kamala Harris and is amongst Hollywood’s most outspoken activists, took the stage at the Beverly Hilton and admitted to the gang, “We got our asses kicked. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but sometimes you have to spend a little time in bed before it happens. It was hard to come here, honestly.”
“The fact that we’re here says a great deal about what we all care about in this life, and I want to appreciate you all for your values and the grief and the fear that you most acutely may be feeling as well, because I know I am,” the star continued. “We suffered a great loss, it’s a loss that touches deeply on so much of what we’ve worked for and we’ve hoped for and dreamed of for such a long time now.” He then requested everybody in the room to face to present their neighbor a hug and an “I love you.”
Throughout his 20-minute speech, Ruffalo emphasised that liberal activists are “not new to this, we know what we need to do, and we are the ones to do it. We know how to do it, we’ve already been doing it, and now we just commit more deeply to each other and be open to those new people who are coming to join us.” He additionally inspired compassion over snark and resisting additional isolation, saying that “those who want to do us harm, we’re related to them too, and they’re related to us. We’re all part of that family, they’ve just gone wrong and forgotten who they are.”
He concluded, “I’ve felt demoralization and despair so many times along the road of all of this, and the message I keep getting is if you’re losing hope, you’re not giving enough and you’re not doing enough. Action is the very thing that pushes back despair.”
Steele — the star of Netflix doc Will & Harper, a former head author at Saturday Evening Stay who got here out as a trans lady in 2021 — echoed in her speech that though she is a comedy author, “this week hasn’t been especially funny.”
Steele defined how over the previous few days as she’s gone about her life, she’s questioned, “‘Who are these people and can I trust them? What do they really think of me?’ I think we’ve all been knocked off a little bit; what do Americans think of all of us?”
“I was nervous again. That scary, alienating feeling I fought so hard to overcome was creeping back in,” she continued. “But this is so not about me. This scary feeling is back for so many across this country without the benefit of white privilege, and they have real reason to be afraid. Their health care is under attack; their families, their doctors, their support systems, their schools, their very identity is under attack, and the attackers have just been emboldened.”
But Steele inspired the gang that as a substitute of hiding or getting indignant, the extra highly effective transfer is to point out assist and like to the trans group, as she added, “I promise I will regain my confidence. I will use my 15 minutes of fame to show that I care.”
Kerry Washington, Zoe Saldaña, Ke Huy Quan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Will & Harper director Josh Greenbaum had been additionally among the many stars who took half in the occasion, which serves as a significant fundraiser for ACLU SoCal’s fights for freedom.
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