I recently had the honour of seeing Brooklyn 99 star, Terry Crews, speak at an event supporting 
the Alberta Council of Women Shelters. It was amazing and heartbreaking and eye-opening and I truly am grateful for Mr. Crews and the words he spoke.
Mr. Crews talked about many things including how he grew up through abuse and addiction as well as how the men and society around him shaped his views on women and how it came crumbling down, forcing him to reevaluate his perceptions and how he treats his wife, children and women in general in his life now.
Mr. Crews did something that is hard for any person to do, especially a man. He spoke from a place of absolute vulnerability and admitted the faults that he hid for so many years. And he did this to a couple of hundred people. It was amazing. But I have to tell you the part that hit me right in the feels was how he talked about moving forward. How it is time for the world to recognize that gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence is not a women’s issue, it is a humanity issue.
One thing Mr. Crews said that I absolutely loved was (and I am paraphrasing here, so bear with me) “Men need to hold other men accountable for their actions. Men need to show other men and boys how to behave properly and treat others with respect and kindness. When slavery was still rampant in the southern United States, African Americans had been saying for too many years ‘This isn’t right. Slavery is wrong. You can’t do this to us.’ and the white man would tell them to get back to work. But when a white man stated ‘You know, slavery isn’t good’, that’s when everyone else started to listen.” And so it is with the men in this time of awakening and transition. It is not about calling all men bad, it is about recognizing the subtleties of phrases and actions that developed out of a society that held women down for thousands of years. It’s about men calling other men out when certain phrases used to just be labelled as “locker room talk”. It’s about the amazing men in our lives having our back.
It has been around 100 years in most western countries since women have gotten the right to vote, but many gender-based discriminating laws or practices are still in place today. Gender-based violence is one of the biggest issues being discussed and studied by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and for Mr. Crews to travel around and give talks about the importance of standing with women is truly humbling. I hope he knows how important his words are and we are so grateful for you to join us in Edmonton. Especially since it was February, miserable, snowy and cold. Your words brought light into a dark aspect of our world we can only hope gets better as our voices grow louder and our team grows stronger with the sons and partners who support women around the world.
Thank you.
Lot’s of Love,
Charissa
