The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - America Ferrera on Standing with Christine Blasey Ford and Reclaiming American Identity

Episode Date: October 14, 2019

Actor America Ferrera describes her reaction to Christine Blasey Ford's treatment before the Senate Judiciary Committee and talks about her book "American Like Me."  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. The future of America is in your hands. This is not a movie trailer, and it's not a political ad, but it is a call to action. I'm Mila Atmos and I'm passionate about unlocking the power of everyday citizens. On our podcast, Future Hindsight, we take big ideas about civic life and democracy and turn them into action items for you and me. Every Thursday we talk to bold activists and civic innovators to help you understand your power and your power to change the status quo. Find us at Future Hindsight.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Please welcome America Ferreira. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So good to have you here. There are so many things that you're working on. And today's one of those crazy days where I'm sure you're torn between what's happening in the news, what's happening in life.

Thoomb... There are so many things that you're working on, and today's one of those crazy days where I'm sure you're torn between what's happening in the news, what's happening in the Supreme Court nomination hearing. Let's start with the news today. I'm sure you're also watching what was happening in the Supreme Court nomination hearing. You're somebody who's been involved avidly in politics. Just from your point of view when you were watching what happened today, what would you say was your visceral feeling? Outrage. First and foremost, I love Dr. Ford for her heroic actions that she took. I believe Dr. Ford. And I watched as a survivor of sexual assault myself a very public display of what happens to survivors when they dare speak up.

And I can't imagine a more credible, composed woman sitting in her position and doing the amazing job that she did to tell her truth and speak her voice and then to watch a man-child sort of blubber through his own testimony is enraging. I'm so sick of saying competent, intelligent, credible women come up against men children and be suppressed. It's enraging and it's, and what happens tomorrow or tonight, it's not just a vote, it's a, it's a referendum on what we are as a country. What are we willing to accept?

Where are we really? And how much longer are women's lives and What are we willing to accept? Where are we really? And how much longer are women's lives and women's dignity going to come secondary to the needs of powerful men? Wow. The story of America is so beautifully contained in this book. Wow. The story of America is so beautifully contained in this book and off what you were just saying now, in many ways for many people it feels like America's in a space of multiple referendums now. You know, the midterms are coming up, people are saying that's going to be a referendum on

Trump. Every single election feels like the people speaking out. This book is really something different. American like me, Reflections on Life Between Cultures, you've collected a group of really amazing people, everyone from Uzo Adubo to Linwyan, Manuel Miranda, Roxanne Gay, and you've got people to write really personal accounts of just who they are, what makes them who they are, and how being different has helped them find who they are but also how it's excluded them from the world. How did you even begin this journey and how did you get these people to write in the book? Yeah, well you know I the more and more I think about our country the more I believe that this American experiment is

it's a storytelling experiment. It's sort of whose story gets told, you know, and who has control over which stories get told, and which stories get believed. And you know, for me, I grew up feeling 100% American. I mean, I could have bled red, white, and blue as a nine-year-old child. I believed everything I had been taught, that this is America, and in America, all you have to do is work hard and believe thatught. That this is America and in America, all you have to do is work hard and believe that you're equal to everyone else and that everyone else is equal to you and nothing is impossible. And I believed that.

And it wasn't until other people let me know that I wasn't American like them. That my eyes were open to that. And, and the space that I have inhabited for a lot of my life, the place between feeling 100% American, but being told that others saw me not as that, and then also feeling Latina and deeply rooted to my family's culture and history, but also being told that I really wasn't that either. So I sort of lived in a no man's land.

And I felt so alone and isolated in that experience. And when I realized that so many other people felt that way too, I realize that it was because our stories never get told. We never see our experience woven into the narrative of what this, who is an American and what is an American. And I have to say, I am so upset that patriotism has been hijacked because I am an American. I love this country. I have always loved this country. And my story is American. It's not immigrant American.

No, I am an American. And so I, for me, it was not just about telling my story, but it was about inviting all these other incredible activists and writers and athletes and people who have contributed to the American culture in phenomenal ways who don't get to tell that part of their story. And so I reached out to them and so many of them said yes, which I was so honored by. And now we have this gorgeous book that a young person can hold in their hands and see what it means to be reflected by Americans like them. It really is a wonderful paradox to try and absorb because as you're reading through the stories, the stories, the stories, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, so.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. thery and absorb because as you're reading through the stories, on the one hand you're absorbing a world that has maybe told people repeatedly

that they cannot be, but you also speaking to people who've managed to overcome that. And I guess the moral of the story that I took from the book is really that no one should have to face that obstacle in the first place. But it really is inspiring to to to to th. It really, it really to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, tho, tho, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the world, the the world, the the the the the the the the thi, thi. thr-a, thr-a, thrown. thrown. throooooooooooooooooooooooooooomu. thi. thoooooooooooooooooo of these stories, to see all these people coming forward. You are somebody who's done it in your life in multiple ways. You know, you've gone from being America Ferreira people go like, oh, you're this type of actress or you're this type of personal, this is what you mean. And we've seen you just grow and blow up in multiple different roles. I mean, like on Superstore now you're getting to direct episodes, a new season is coming up. Are we seeing more of you in these roles? Are you going to be exploring more of that?

Yeah, I mean, yes, absolutely. I have started directing. I'm directing this season as well. I directed in the past two seasons. You know, I think that so much of what this book and these stories are about and so much about where I am and where I think women and people of color and all kinds of marginalized people in this country, our feeling is we should be able to walk into spaces as our whole selves. We shouldn't have to strip away the pieces of us that aren't accepted by the mainstream culture to exist and be

accepted in spaces. And so for me that means I'm an actress, that means I'm a director, that means I'm a producer, that means I'm a director, that means I'm a producer, that means I'm an engaged citizen, and I get to be all of those things, no matter what room I walk into. Your dream. Your dream is carried through in the book. It's Perry through in the book. We love watching you grow. Congratulations on the new again. American Like Me is available now on the fourth season of Superstore will premiere October

4th on NBC. America Ferreira, everybody. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show Week Nights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central and the Comedy Central Act. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.

The Future of America is in your hands. This is not a movie trailer, and it's not a political ad, but it is a call to action. I'm Mila Atmos and I'm passionate about unlocking the power of everyday citizens. On our podcast, Future Hindsight, we take big ideas about civic life and democracy and turn them into action items for you and me. Every Thursday we talk to bold activists and civic innovators to help you understand your power and your power to change the status quo. Find us at Future Hindsight.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.