Stand by us, for us, with us: Actresses against harassment

Los Angeles, Jan 16 (IANS) Six actresses of colour urged people to say "time's up" to harassment and abuse at the NAACP Image Awards here.

Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lena Waithe, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Angela Robinson and Laverne Cox shared a message encouraging viewers to "stand by us, stand for us, stand with us" against harassment and for justice, at the event held on Monday night, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

They gave out a group message about the #MeToo movement before the Best Actress in a Drama Series prize. Each of the ladies delivered a sentence of the statement before passing it on to the other.

"We are America's black women," Washington said, with Ross adding in: "Forces of nature."

The group said that black women had "always been on the front lines of change" and challenged viewers to "stand by us, stand for us, stand with us."

They then delivered a series of messages starting with the phrase "Time's up".

"Time's up on complaining about an imperfect system if we aren't willing to fix it, time's up on our silence, time's up on the abuse of power," the women said together.

Robinson received applause when she said: "The mid-terms are a perfect moment for us to use our voices."

"We cannot sit this one out. If we can take back a senate seat in Alabama," Smollett-Bell said, to more applause, "then we have the ability to shift the balance of power."

After the speech, Robinson tweeted an image of the group with the caption, "Incredible sharing the stage with these incredible women at the NAACP Image Awards to represent Time's Up."