America Ferrera might not have mentioned President Donald Trump or his immigration policies directly during her half-hour Dreamforce address Thursday, but the country’s political situation was the backdrop for many of her comments to the female-dominated audience at the Blue Shield Theater in Yerba Buena Center.
The “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” actor said that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are “not like a pair of skinny jeans.”
“They shouldn’t come in and out of fad based on who wins an election and the changing winds,” she said. “Diversity and inclusion is a commitment to creating spaces where a workforce is emboldened to bring the best of themselves to make great things, to solve big problems, and for people to do that, they need to know that they have leadership who has their back.”
Ferrera argued repeatedly that now is the time for bravery in leadership during her conversation with Salesforce’s chief equality and engagement officer, Alexandra Siegel.
“If our leaders are able to stand up for their values and to stand up against bullying, intimidation, tyranny, then we’re emboldened to stand up,” she said. “Conversely, if our leaders begin to grow timid and cowardly in the face of intimidation, then that also goes downstream.”
That could be taken as a pointed statement, given the recent remarks (opens in new tab) from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on the current political climate (opens in new tab), which have taken on a life of their own.
Onstage, Ferrera brought up her own Honduran heritage several times, as well as her childhood being raised by a single mother with her five siblings in Los Angeles.
She recalled being fed the American Dream for “breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and for snack time” but she also remembered being 9 years old when California voters passed Prop 187 — a 1994 ballot initiative designed to prohibit illegal immigrants from using nonemergency healthcare, public education, and other services.
Her mother told her she might get pulled out of class and asked where her family was from, but that she had done nothing wrong and had every right to be in school.
“I was terrified,” Ferrera recalled. “I had a very visceral experience of the fact that politics is personal. I didn’t get to choose whether or not I wanted to be engaged with politics. Politics was engaged with me.”
Of course, the talk would not have been complete without mention of Ferrera’s famous “Barbie” movie monologue, which she said had resonated with audiences regardless of gender, since many people have approached her with similar feelings of needing to be extraordinary, but falling short.
“So many people saw themselves in that speech and in that monologue, and the feeling of ‘I’m doing everything right, but I can’t seem to hit the mark.’” she said. “We’re never meant to hit the mark. It’s an unhittable mark.”