When her award was announced at the SAG Awards, Jane Fonda bounded on stage with an energy that belied her 87 years.
“Your enthusiasm makes this seem, I don’t know, less like a late twilight of my life and more like a ‘Go girl, kick ass,’” she told the crowd. “Which is good, because I’m not done.”
In her compassionate, appealing acceptance speech, she took aim at present politicians, the weaponization of the word ‘woke’ and warned the audience (without mentioning Trump’s name) that :
“A whole lot of people are gonna be really hurt by what is happening, what is coming our way.” Even if they’re of a different political persuasion, we need to call upon our empathy and not judge, but listen from our hearts and welcome them into our tent—because we are gonna need a big tent to resist successfully what’s coming at us.”
“Empathy is not weak or ‘woke,’” she added in a line that is now trending on social media:’ ‘Woke’ just means you give a damn about other people.”
In her rousing speech, she alternately warned us and inspired us to fight for our rights and those of marginalized people.
