There’s usually just one thing on my mind the morning after the Golden Globes. The fashion and the celebrities who wear it. In the lean (as in the zero ghastly gowns) years where everyone photographed was tastefully dressed, there’d always be at least one ‘celebrities, they’re just like us’ image of celeb besties being normal people taking selfies and group photos decked out in their finest and powered by a glass or several of bubbles.
2018, however, was different for me. Firstly, in a united stance for everyone in their industry and beyond who have suffered their abuse in silence, most wore modest black gowns to the ceremony. And secondly.
And secondly. No make that only.
This woman. Oprah Winfrey and her powerful, stirring and eloquent speech that brought home the dual messages that black lives and women’s lives matter. And not only do they matter, their voices will be heard and those voices will be believed.
It wasn’t just a speech about equality and of truth triumphing over power based lies and cover-ups, it was a speech that so beautifully expressed thankfulness. Oprah just has this way about her. She expresses gratitude with word pictures and messages that aren’t just about her, she manages to empower and affect all of us with a positive energy that stems from her personal accomplishments.
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The following are quotes from Oprah’s speech yesterday that I found in this article from The Guardian. They struck me because of her reference to women from all walks of life. Not just those in the golden bubble of celebrity.
“So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue.
“They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants and they’re in academia, engineering, medicine and science. They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.”
The conclusion of her speech resisted the obvious path of making it just about women but instead also paid tribute to the men who are fighting this fight alongside them.
“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.”
Elsewhere in her speech, Oprah took a moment to also defend and commend the media for their part in the exposure of recent sexual abuse cases that have rocked the US and whose aftershocks have been felt in the entertainment industry globally.
There is much we can ridicule and criticize about the cult of celebrity as it stands in 2018 but at this moment, Oprah has helped harness its influence for the greater good. May she and her cohort keep this flame burning.