Amidst a political and cultural call for action, Fonda faced technical difficulties.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
Jane Fondaknows how to command a room, no matter what’s happening around her.
Fonda took it in stride, wrapping it into her speech.
Credit:Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
“SAG-AFTRA is different than most other unions,” she declared.
“Because us, the workers, we actors, we don’t manufacture anything tangible.
What we create is empathy.
Our job is to understand another human so profoundly that we can touch their souls.
We know why they do what they do.
We feel their joys and their pains.”
Without missing a beat, she continued, “We have to drill deep, don’t we?”
A two-time Oscar winner, Fonda is an acting and cultural legend.
“Make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke,” she continued.
“And by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.
Because we are going to need a big tent for what’s coming at us.”
Fonda spoke of previous movements, including many of those that she had been directly involved with.
“We don’t have to wonder anymore because we are in our documentary moment.
And it’s not a rehearsal.
This is big-time, serious, folks.
So, let’s be brave.
This is a good time for a little Norma Rae or Karen Silkwood.”
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“We must not isolate,” she said.
“We must stay in community.
We must help the vulnerable.
We must find ways to project an inspiring vision of the future one that is beckoning.
