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The Hollywood actor and activist
Danny Glover speaks on human rights
By Savannah Hunnicutt
“Education and health care should not be radical precepts, ” he said The right to a living wage as opposed to a minimum wage should not be a debate.
“We are the architects of change,” said Danny Glover, speaking to hundreds on how to build relationships necessary to create the, “hope we desire.” Glover, perhaps better known as a Hollywood actor, was on the UWM campus last Friday night to discuss human rights in Latin America, and other pressing global issues. Glovers address was presented as part of UWM's “Distinguished Lecture Series.” The presentation, aptly titled“An Evening with Danny Glover,” was concluded with a discussion with four panel members and question and answer session, in front of a packed and enthusiastic audience in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room.
“Before his career in acting took off, he was an activist,” said a student from Third-World Action in introduction. Glover has been an activist for the Free Breakfast for Children program, protested Vietnam, and showed a, “continued commitment to social justice,” the student continued. He has been involved with issues including, but not limited to, civil rights, literacy, AIDS, the American occupation of Iraq, and issues surrounding globalization in the twenty-first century.
Glover opened his speech on a political note, calling the recent presidential elections revitalizing. “I was afraid to use the word change tonight,” he joked, continuing to cite the Obama campaign as an example of how grassroots efforts and community mobilization can be a catalyst for change. There comes a point when we know the truth, and we define ourselves on how we act on that truth, explained Glover. “It’s what we choose to see and what not to see,” not what we really know to be true, that shapes our perception of reality.
Glover discussed human rights from what he calls, “another vantage point.” He challenged the audience to view human rights issues from the point of imagination and of working together. He wants people to see human rights issues in a way that “resonates with us in practical terms.”
With 90 percent of African decedents in Latin America living in poverty, it will be a, “defining moment for the upcoming administration,” says Glover, stressing the importance of human rights issues in the area. In reference to the poor and mistreated in Latin America, Glover read a poem about how the “nobodies” in the world are not graced with good luck. The “nobodies,” in the poem are “screwed every which way.” They have dialects instead of language. They have superstition instead of religion. Handicrafts instead of art. Folklore instead of culture. They are human resources, not human beings. They are not names but numbers, and they “aren’t worth the bullet that kills them.”
Glover concluded his recitation and looked out to the audience from behind the podium, “We can choose to become participants. If we act, we can create the new language that we need!” he said. What we need is people fighting for ideas and ideals. “We could have forgotten about it and moved on a long time ago,” Glover continued, but we didn't.
Glover possesses a rare talent, the ability to speak eloquently and accurately on a topic while retaining an emotion found only in the most caring and passionate of people. Some may say that Glover’s opinions are controversial, but he argued that the issues he speaks about and discusses are anything but. “Education and health care should not be radical precepts, ” he said The right to a living wage as opposed to a minimum wage should not be a debate.
“We are architects of our own rescue,” Glover claimed, deciding our collective fate based on what we choose to see or not see, accept and not accept as reality. Glover is inspired and, “encouraged by what is the new political will,” understanding the drive of a new generation by all the young people that voted in the election, and the younger ones that could not. Glover’s four-year-old grandson cried because he could not vote in the election, a profound illustration of an action Glover hopes has not become trite: change.
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