Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1325752
66 SAG-AFTRA | Winter 2021 | sagaftra.org SAG-AFTRA PRESIDENT GABRIELLE CARTERIS VIEWS THE EFFORT FOR MORE EQUITABLE HIRING AS ONE THAT GOES HAND IN HAND WITH SAFETY. "FOR OUR STUNT PERFORMERS — AND ALL MEMBERS — SAFETY REMAINS OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY, AND THAT'S SOMETHING WE WILL NEVER COMPROMISE ON. IN THAT CONTEXT, WE CAN STILL MAKE A MEANINGFUL PUSH FOR DIVERSE HIRING OF THOSE WHO ARE SKILLED AND QUALIFIED. WE CAN, WE MUST, WE WILL," SHE SAID. "I got about five feet from the bottom, he released me, and I fell perfectly flat on my back," the almost three-decade veteran of stunts recalled vividly. "When I hit, I thought he just killed me. I was slowly moving my hand close to my head expecting fragments of my head or brains to come out. The coordinator expressed no apologies because, in his mind, I was expendable." Charles is African American, and he knows this was not an isolated incident in the industry. He feels he was a target of long-standing practices in the stunt world that discriminate against people of color, women and LGBTQ performers. "In this industry, I have had to stay in my lane, to learn to watch the backs of my Asian and brown friends, and women and gays and lesbians," he said. "We are regularly being attacked." SAG-AFTRA IS ACTING DECISIVELY TO END well-known, inequitable hiring and on-set practices in the stunt industry that have erected barriers and put the livelihood and safety of a huge swath of performers at risk. At its October meeting, the National Board overwhelming approved the appointment of the Task Force on Ensuring Fair and Equitable Hiring Practices Within the Stunt Community to develop recommended protocols to ensure fair employment of stunt professionals. "In this long and distinguished profession, there is a dark reality," said National Executive Director David White. "The hiring practices within the profession and the expansive set of microaggressions and larger aggressions against people of color and women have existed for a long time, and the time has arrived that we must address it." The newly established task force, comprised of members who are preeminent in their field, fits into SAG-AFTRA's long tradition of fighting for the rights of every member, an embrace of justice, equality and fairness that is the catalyst for the union's most recent activism, such as setting forth and negotiating protections for actors who must perform sexually intimate scenes. THE STUNT EQUITY TASK FORCE ECHOES the broader reckoning of the nation with racism. SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris sees the engagement as core to the union's mission. "We as an organization expect and demand inclusion and diversity from our employers," she said. "But, we cannot look just outside. We have to have the courage to look within. Our members are speaking out; it's no longer behind closed doors and we're hearing the real stories. If we follow true unionism, we have to act and we have to change." For Charles, SAG-AFTRA's task force gives him — and he thinks many others — hope. "The union's leadership are the first people ever to hear us. I've never been so proud of this union after 30 years in this business."