JENNIFER BEALS SPEECH

JENNIFER BEALS SPEECH
Power Up
by Jennifer Beals

As I got a little older and was more aware of television and magazines I searched for images of girls that looked like me. As a biracial girl growing up in Chicago there wasn’t a lot there, positive or otherwise. I mean, I had Spock. That was kind of it. . My theme song was Cher’s Half-Breed. As for being a female, the only women who had any kind of power were either witches, or scantily clad blonde genies running around furniture to escape certain rape from some horny guy. Really weird. Given the choice, I guess I’d be a witch.

Jennifer Beals gave a great speech here. I wish we could contact her. She also notes the damage done to (generations) of mixed people (especially whiter females) by the racist message of “Imitation of Life.”

Here, one might add that if “society” takes pains to lie and distort your story (a la “Imitation of Life”), then you must have a hidden power someone is trying to contain:

“And certainly when society fails to write your story there is an unspoken message that the story is not worth telling.”