A Perfect Explanation of Why Women’s Rights and Racial Justice Are Still a Big Deal

Speaker 1: Hi. Do you have a minute to talk about women’s rights?

Shawn: We’d love to but we have to get back to work.

Sasheer Zamata: I’ll take a pamphlet, though.

Shawn: I know everybody’s talking about gender inequality but haven’t we come a long way in this country?

Sasheer: Yeah, we have but there’s always room for improvement.

Shawn: I mean, I feel like I see more female leads in TV shows and movies. There’s way more women in politics right now. The same goes for minorities. I feel like there’s such a massive call for diversity right now.

Sasheer: Well, there still needs to be more diversity behind the scenes. And in a lot of jobs women still aren’t as respected as the men in their field.

Shawn: Yeah, well, that’s not their problem. You know, why worry about what other people think or say about you? If other people want to go negative, that’s their problem, not yours.

Catcaller 1: Hey, why don’t you smile?

Shawn: You just have to have confidence in yourself.

Catcaller 2: You perv. I wasn’t even looking at you!

Shawn: That’s all you can do… But I struggle. I get it. I struggle, too.

Sasheer: You may struggle but you can still realize that our playing fields are unequal.

Shawn: I don’t know about that. In my experience –

Cop to Sasheer: Come with me.

Shawn: Everybody here in this country is treated fairly. You know, if you just work hard enough, everyone can get ahead.

Sasheer to Cop: Why are you doing this?

Cop to Sasheer: You fit the description, ma’am.

Sasheer to Cop: What’s the description?

Shawn: I didn’t even realize that you dropped your drink.

Cop to Shawn: Oh, she’s with you.

Sasheer: Look, Shawn, you just need to realize that you have privilege because of your race and your class and your gender and a bunch of other factors that you can’t control. But that’s okay. What you can control is how you use that privilege. You can use it to help others.

Shawn: I can do that. I do consider myself to be a feminist.

Mayor: Here you go.

Shawn, to crowd and news crew: I’m a feminist.

Sasheer: I’m a feminist, too.

Speaker 4: With that shirt?

Sasheer: What?

Shawn, after flashback: I get it. Or at least I can see it now. Some things are just unfair and they won’t get better if we keep ignoring them.

Sasheer: That’s really great to hear you say.

Shawn: You want some of my lemonade? I want us to have an equal drinking experience.

Sasheer, smacking the drink from his hand: That would be equal… (laughing) We should get more lemonade.

Shawn: Yeah. I can’t believe you just did that.

Sasheer: I thought it was funny. You only gave me a half-empty cup of lemonade.

Women’s equality starts with the person next to you

Shawn: Half-full.

Be a friend…

Sasheer: Oh. Okay. So optimistic.

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