When it comes to activism, Rosie Perez isn’t one to merely lob a tweet. She was arrested for disorderly conduct in 2000 while protesting the U.S. Navy’s deadly air bomb training off the coast of Puerto Rico. And the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actress, whose mother died of AIDS, served on President Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, beginning in 2010.
On Tuesday, she put the spotlight on first responders at Variety‘s Power of Women luncheon, presented by Lifetime, in New York City. The “White Men Can’t Jump” actor highlighted the Heart 9/11 charity organization, which was founded in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attack that crippled Perez’s hometown, New York City.
Perez was honored at this year’s Power of Women event alongside Judy Blume, Natasha Lyonne, Kelly Ripa and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. Perez was introduced by her “Do the Right Thing” director Spike Lee, who remembered meeting her for the first time while writing the script and discovering they lived in the same neighborhood.
“I’m so happy Rosie is getting this award. From day one, she’s always had the greatest heart. She’s always been there for the people who don’t have a voice, who get ignored, kicked to the curb. She’s always been there and has never changed. Her courage has even grown more and she’s still fighting the good fight. I love you.”
During her speech, Perez stressed that “true feminism” is the fight not just for equality between men and women but “also between women from different socioeconomic, gender identities, and ethnic backgrounds.”
“This industry, just like most, is so hard for women,” Perez said. “But especially for women of color, different gender identities and sexual orientation. Which brings me to representation and inclusion. Representation matters. But without inclusion for all, the needle of progress will continue to move way too slowly.”
Perez went on to highlight how various waves of feminism throughout history actually weren’t quite equal for all women. “Mistakes were made,” she said.
“In the 19th Century, the first wave of feminism, women band together winning the right to vote,” Perez said. “A victory for sure, however, the National American Woman Suffrage Association prevented Black women from attending their conventions even though they were an important part of the movement. Black women often had to march separately from white women in suffrage parades.”
The second wave of feminism in the 1960s “focused on equality in the workplace and gains were made” as “white, Black and brown women marched and fought together,” Perez continued. “[But] women of color and of lower socio-economic means did not benefit in the same ways. To date, those two groups are still paid less.”
Even with the “intersectionality” of feminism in more recent times, “Hollywood, for some ungodly reason, still struggles to find a meaningful space for not only women but women who are marginalized on account of their race and gender identity. This needs to stop.” Perez also noted that even during the #MeToo movie “female activists [had to]remind folks that a woman of color, Tarana Burke, actually began #MeToo.”
“Please do not misconstrue my intentions,” Perez said. “All the trials, tribulations, and successes by women who risked their lives and livelihood have changed the world and I wholeheartedly applaud the efforts of the women’s movement to move with the times…I just ask folks to consider that we all can do better. The onus to do better is not solely on women. Every single human being on this planet can participate.”
Read Perez’s full Power of Women cover story here.