“This moment is not an end all be all. This vote, this election is not even the half of what is ahead of us.”
Regardless of how the 2020 presidential election ultimately plays out, Ava DuVernay said there much more work to be done for the Black community in America.
On Election Day Tuesday, the filmmaker delivered a powerful speech at a Black Lives Matter event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where she stressed that the election is “not an end all be all.”
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Ava DuVernay, Viola Davis, Samuel L. Jackson and More Pay Tribute to Civil Rights Legend John Lewis
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“Thank you for holding space for this resistance, for this power, for this voice, for demonstrating who we are, that we can proclaim what we want, that we can exercise rights that are given to us and rights that we take that are not given to us, that we can declare what we want,” began Duvernay, who was wearing a face mask amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This moment is not an end all be all. This vote, this election is not even the half of what is ahead of us and what needs to happen tomorrow and the next day and the next day,” she continued. “But it is a tool, it is a weapon in our arsenal and we are going to fight. We are in a war.”
The Oscar-nominated director concluded by thanking the crowd for their attendance and encouraged everyone “to keep loving each other.”
Earlier this week, DuVernay who often uses her platform to speak out on important issues such as the election and the BLM movement, and her advocacy collective Array teamed up with Harvard University and Ron Clark Academy to educate and inform young voters ahead of the election.
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On Monday, the “13th” filmmaker posted a video from an Array drive-in event, where “Selma” was screened for attendees.
“As Array was thinking about what we wanted to do for our fall programming and how we could contribute to catalyze voters during the election,” she said in the clip. “We were really lucky that we were able to look into our own library and ‘Selma’ was there.”
“Especially during this time as there’s this big debate about whether or not to vote and what it means. We felt that there was no better film to show.”
The “A Wrinkle In Time” director captioned the post, “SELMA 101. To explain this wild week to young people, we asked @harvard and @ronclarkacademy to create a visual learning companion on everything from gerrymandering to propaganda to the 27+ methods of protest. SELMA 101 is free for you from all of us at @arraynow. selma101.org.”
