1) White people sometimes ask me how they can be an ally. @EllenPompeo puts on a master class in how to be one.
2) @itsgabrielleu’s facial expressions are a whole ass mood.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) November 20, 2018
Any old sucker ally can (and should!) call out racism in the rear view mirror. Any old goon can look behind them and say “hey, that whole racism thing from my father’s generation? That was bad.” The next stage is then calling out racism that co-exists in society with you. Of course, if you want to be absolutely advanced, as Ellen Pompeo was in the video above, then call out the lack of diversity currently in the room with you! Now that’s allyish happening when it’s most effective, in the damn moment, and that’s exactly what actress Ellen Pompeo has done here, when she called out the lack of diversity amongst the crew in the “Women in Television” round table created by Porter Magazine.
Said Pompeo: “I don’t see enough color. And I didn’t see enough color when I walked in the room today”. Gabrielle Union and Gina Rodriguez, of Scream Queens and Jane the Virgin, respectively, nod along with the statement, as Pompeo talks about the importance of hiring a diverse crew. Pompeo adds: “As caucasian people, it’s our job, it’s our task, it’s our responsibility to make sure we speak up in every single room we walk into. It’s our job because we created the problem.”
Indeed, as white people still outnumber the amount of people of color in the entertainment industry, if we’re true allies of change, and truly oppose the ideas espoused by Donald Trump and other friends of white supremacy, we have to support more progressive ideas, and demand diversity in our work spaces and film crews.
This also reminds me of Frances McDormand’s historic Oscar speech where she got the world Googling “Inclusion Rider” to get more people of color and women into the crew and cast of almost any film.
What do you think of Pompeo’s speech? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
