Film Producer and political activist Nicole Avant receives the Beacon Award at the AAFCA Awards
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00:00And I want to dedicate this award to my mother, Jacqueline Avant.
00:04To my father, the Black Godfather, Clarence Avant.
00:18And to my Godfather, Quincy Jones.
00:25Quincy was a man who loved everything and everyone with all of his heart.
00:32Their wisdom and their love, truth, and strength have been beacons of light along my journey.
00:40And I would not be standing here without any of them.
00:45I also want to dedicate this award, in Tyler Perry fashion, to Don Cornelius, Ella Fitzgerald.
00:57It's coming.
00:58Don Cornelius, Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Aaron, Andrew Young, Cicely Tyson, Muhammad Ali,
01:05Diane Carroll, Bill Withers, and Sir Sidney Poitier.
01:14Who she all knew, she knew them all, she knew all of them, she knew all of them, she knew
01:22every one of them.
01:23These giants.
01:24They all were at the house, go on, let's go.
01:29Yes.
01:30Yes, they were, Tyler.
01:34These giants just happened to be some of my parents' very best friends.
01:39And I was fortunate enough to be fueled by them.
01:44And by their grit, their grace, their gratitude, their compassion, and their resilience.
01:52They each asked me, in their own way, to take their survival energy and transmute it into
02:00a new energy.
02:03And that energy would thrive.
02:07They reminded me of their hardships and their obstacles, and they asked me to never forget
02:13them.
02:14But more importantly, they reminded me that I am the promise.
02:20And all of you are the promise.
02:22We all are the promise.
02:24And we must live from this space and create new and powerful and positive intentions from
02:32this new space.