Why I Cried While Watching the Emmy Awards
I cried last night while watching the Emmy Awards. Not like a single tear streaming down my face, but a full on river of tears, as I watched Regina King (American Crime), Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder) and Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black) accept their awards. I felt their joy leap off the screen and into my heart.
Viola's speech beautifully and truthfully highlighted the lack of racial diversity in Hollywood. Uzo Aduba thanked her sister for her support and love. Regina King acknowledged her son and his role in making her life better. This made me a sappy mess!
““The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win for roles that simply aren’t there.”
Watching my favorite television shows as a kid transported me to another world. Like most kids growing up in the 80's, I watched Different Strokes, Facts of Life, police and detective shows. Most of these shows had male actors in the lead roles, even the cartoons. These characters inspired but didn't empower me.
I later fell in love with the ladies from A Different World, the Cosby Show's Clare Huxtable and her amazing daughters, Candice Bergen's Murphy Brown and Calista Flockhart's Ally McBeal. These women were strong humanizing characters. It wasn't a Pollyanna portrayal of womanhood. While I am thankful for that multicultural representation of strong women, I'm even more thankful now for an opportunity to see women like me dominating the small screen.
Thanks to Kerry Washington, Regina King, Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Uzo Aduba, Gabrielle Union, Megan Good and countless others, I'm empowered. I see my life as a journey of limitless possibilities. And my daughter can too! They're a great reminder that as you age your life gets better, richer and more challenging in a different way. I owe these actresses a debt of gratitude for awakening my spirit. It's important to see female characters, real or fictional, that resemble you. Not the PR version of ourselves we showcase on social media but the real and imperfect you. Showcasing our neurosis, anxieties, and daily struggles to balance life, relationships, work, and love. It reminds us that it's okay to be flawed.
Congrats to these ladies and all the winners at last night's Emmy Awards! Did you watch the Emmys? What was your favorite moment?
“In my dreams and visions, I seemed to see a line, and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies, who stretched out their arms to me over the line, but I couldn’t reach them no-how...”
