Former Vice President Kamala Harris had the viewers cheering on the 56th NAACP Picture Awards as she rallied People to combat for justice, equality, and alternative in her first TV look since leaving workplace.
Accepting the group’s Chairman’s Award on the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday night time, Harris started by saying she’s been impressed by the NAACP her total life. And one in every of her credos is a quote from NAACP cofounder W. E. B. Du Bois: “It’s in the present day that our greatest work may be completed and never some future day or future yr.” These phrases resonate with Harris within the combat for America’s future, she stated.
“This group got here into being at a second when our nation struggled with greed, bitterness, and hatred,” Harris defined. “And people who cast the NAACP, those that carried its legacy ahead, had no illusions concerning the forces they have been up in opposition to, no illusions about how stony the street can be. However some have a look at this second and rightly really feel the load of historical past. Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy, and ask, ‘What will we do now?’ However we all know precisely what to do as a result of we have now completed it earlier than and we’ll do it once more.”
Paras Griffin/Getty Photographs for BET
She went on: “We use our energy, we set up, mobilize, we educate, and we advocate. As a result of, you see, our energy has by no means come from having a simple path. Our energy flows from our religion — religion in God, religion in one another, and our refusal to give up to cynicism and destruction. Not as a result of it’s straightforward, however as a result of it’s vital. Not as a result of victory is assured, however as a result of the combat is value it. And whereas we have now no illusions about what we’re up in opposition to on this chapter in our American story, this chapter might be written not just by whoever occupies the Oval Workplace nor by the wealthiest amongst us. The American story might be written by you, written by us, by we the individuals.”
Massive winners on the awards present on Saturday night time included Abbott Elementary, which gained Excellent Comedy Sequence whereas star Quinta Brunson gained Excellent Actress in a Comedy Sequence, and Poppa’s Home, for which father-son group Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. gained Excellent Actor and Supporting Actor in a Comedy Sequence, respectively. Ghosts’ Danielle Pinnock, in the meantime, gained Excellent Supporting Actress in a Comedy Sequence.
On the drama TV facet, Cross gained Excellent Drama Sequence, Energy Ebook II: Ghost’s Michael Rainey Jr. and Methodology Man gained Excellent Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively; The Equalizer’s Queen Latifah gained Excellent Actress; and The Chi’s Lynn Whitfield gained Excellent Supporting Actress.