Taraji P. Henson gave a timely speech about unity during last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards
At last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (January 29th), Taraji P. Henson gave a powerful speech about unity while picking up the award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture for Hidden Figures.
Hidden Figures follows the true story of three African American women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson, who helped NASA launch the space program. The film, which is also nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, stars Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, musician and Janelle Monaé, and Henson as the three main characters, and has proven successful at the box office, knocking Rogue One: A Star Wars Story off the top spot.
Now in an impassioned and important acceptance speech, Taraji P. Henson has spoken about the importance of unity and love, and it’s the boost we needed right now.
After Hidden Figures picked up the the award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture, Henson, along with her cast mates, inlcuding Spencer and Monaé, spoke about the film’s importance and its message.
"This film is about unity," she said, before thanking the members of the guild for the award. "The shoulders of the women that we stand on are three American heroes: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Without them, we would not know how to reach the stars."
Continuing, Henson went on to praise the real-life inspirations for the film, Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson, for “not [complaining] about the problems, the circumstances, the issues.”
“They focused on solutions. Therefore, these brave women helped put men into space,” she said, before thanking the men involved in the project.
"This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside, and we come together as a human race, she concluded. “We win. Love wins every time. Thank you so much for appreciating the work we've done. Thank you so much for appreciating these women. They are hidden figures no more!
Watch Taraji P. Henson’s speech below.
“We stand here as proud actors." – @TherealTaraji on behalf of the cast of @HiddenFigures pic.twitter.com/7oL24Vpo5V
— SAG Awards® (@SAGawards) January 30, 2017
This isn’t the first tome that Henson has inspired us so much it’s given us chills. The actor has previously spoken about the importance of women supporting each other, feeding into this overall theme of unity.
“Women gotta understand,” she said. “We work better together. The power in women sticking together – We will change the world. And until we get that, we’re not going anywhere.”
Given everything that’s going on in the country right now, we feel that Taraji P. Henson’s message of unity is one that needs to be spread far and wide. As she said, love wins!
