I’ve Had So Many Angela Bassett Moments
They are too many to count…
My grandmother always used to say,
«Work hard Rebecca, give the very best of yourself, and you’ll get rewarded».
When I got into corporate much earlier on in my life, I religiously followed her advice. But the truth is that she was wrong. As a Black woman, working hard never got me anywhere. I was passed over for jobs, I wasn’t promoted, and people less capable than I was, and sometimes even with much less experience, were given roles that I deserved. I swallowed my pride, hell, I swallowed my whole entire damn ego because I – we, had to eat.
As I watched Angela Bassett’s face at the Oscar ceremony the other night, right at the moment that they called Jamie Lee Curtis’ name for Best Supporting Actress, instead of hers, I could feel exactly the way she felt. That feeling of dejection, that feeling of rejection. You’ve worked hard, you’ve given everything in you, and yet, despite all that, they just don’t give you the recognition that you deserve. They just don’t give you that prize, they just don’t acknowledge you, and they just don’t validate your hard work.
You feel the pain trickle throughout your entire body, it invades every pore, every vein, and every artery. It simmers within you yet you can’t let it break you, not there…
