This previous Monday, February 17, 2025, I had the chance to attend ABFF Honors in Los Angeles, California. ABFF Honors, introduced by Cadillac, is the American Black Movie Competition’s annual awards season gala devoted to recognizing excellence within the movement image and tv business. I’m grateful to have been a visitor for a number of years again to again and the celebration of Black pleasure, Black excellence, and Black Hollywood is unparalleled. However this 12 months, the influence was completely different. With honorees like “Nickel Boys” star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, “Considered one of These Days” star Keke Palmer, “Captain America” star Giancarlo Esposito, “Mufasa” star Aaron Pierre, and queen amongst queens, THE Marla Gibbs, how may it not be? However, it wasn’t simply that. Cadillac introduced much more pleasure to the night with the gorgeous ESCALADE IQ, seamlessly mixing innovation with legacy, and even additional showcased their dedication to excellence — very similar to the honorees of the evening! The way forward for Black Hollywood and automotive luxurious, underneath one roof!
I don’t find out about y’all, however 2025 has been weighing me down since November of 2024….As a spouse, mom, Los Angeleno (however a local Texan), and the founding father of Black Love, I used to be anxious about what the brand new 12 months would carry. However with some optimism, I used to be prepared for my three sons to get again to highschool and for me to get again to the 12 months spherical work of uplifting my neighborhood by means of Black Love. However on January 8, sooner or later into the second semester for my two kindergartners and third grader, your entire county of Los Angeles was overcome with anxiousness and grief as unprecedented winds precipitated wildfires, which left greater than 10,000 buildings destroyed and numerous lives modified without end. This was very true within the metropolis of Altadena, a neighborhood with a big, long-tenured Black inhabitants. Y’all haven’t been underneath a rock, so this.
The California wildfires left a Black neighborhood devasted and my children out of faculty for 3 weeks (for those who’re a father or mother studying this, this isn’t a small factor). I used to be SPENT and resigned myself to imagine there was no mild on the finish of this tunnel.
As lovely of an expertise ABFF Honors has been for me previously, I second guessed attending this 12 months. I didn’t even need to be exterior. However then I remembered the way in which my soul feels in a room filled with Black folks, a room filled with Black love. You see, ABFF Honors stems from the American Black Movie Competition (ABFF), based by Jeff Friday in 1997. ABFF Honors is government produced by Jeff and his spouse, Nicole, underneath their Los Angeles-based dwell occasions firm, NICE CROWD, that develops and produces properties that showcase BIPOC tradition and expertise. This occasion is rooted of their love and the way in which they love their household and neighborhood.
So WHAT WAS I THINKING?? ABFF Honors was precisely the place I wanted to be this February, celebrating Black historical past within the making and Black love in all types.
Once I arrived, a stunning first-ever, all-electric 2025 ESCALADE IQ greeted me. Once I see Cadillac, I see tradition. I imply, the corporate is talked about in additional than 3000 songs, a lot of that are Hip Hop and R&B songs, from Bruno Mars to Victoria Monet to Huge Boi. The one factor extra gorgeous was the various illustration of Black love on the blue carpet and on stage. Larenz Tate and his spouse of 18 years, Tomasina, stated their favourite type of Black Love is household. They’re mother and father to 4 sons. Lisa Raye stated motherly love was her favourite, together with her cute grandaughter in tow. Kelvin Harrison stated of his “Mufasa” co-star and ABFF Honors Rising Star awardee, Aaron Pierre, that their brotherhood is significant to him. “He sees me and I do know I’ll all the time have him.” The enjoyment among the many literal and play household was palpable and the occasion hadn’t even began.
The ceremony was filled with particularly Black moments, ignited by a highly effective efficiency by Altadena’s personal Victory Bible Church Choir. Host Zainab Johnson opened by giving each honoree their flowers, leaving everybody blushing. Whereas accepting the Rising Star award, introduced by Cadillac, Aaron Pierre did THE dance arriving on stage accompanied by a dwell band rendition of “Aaron Pierre, that’s Mufasa,” simply after telling Zainab he isn’t uninterested in the eye but. He adopted by thanking God and his grandmother for who he’s as an actor and man. (Um, swoon.) Regina King stunned everybody by exhibiting as much as honor her on-screen mom from “227,” Marla Gibbs, who shared that she has been calling Regina her daughter ever since. In accepting her award because the Renaissance honoree, a grateful Keke Palmer gave voice to what I used to be feeling. She described the sensation of being in that room collectively and celebrating collectively, amidst all of this darkness as one thing that “can’t be defined.”
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Captain America himself, Anthony Mackie, doted on Giancarlo Esposito, “a legend” of his who he begged the studio to safe as his nemesis within the newest installment of the Marvel collection. Lastly, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor accepted her award for Excellence within the Arts, partially by highlighting the influence of Esposito’s function in “Do The Proper Factor.” As he notably stated within the movie, “Mook, why ain’t there any Black folks on the wall.” Aunjanue shared that it took her years to understand that line in a different way.
“The message of that movie was greater than the photographs on the wall,” she stated. “The issue was not with the image. The issue was with the wall, the construction that the wall was in. For this reason these messages of one other seat on the desk is deaf to me. I’m not fascinated about no seat at no desk. I don’t need the seat or the desk. I would like the construction. I would like the land that the construction is on. Why? As a result of it’s mine.”
The complete evening was a reminder of how highly effective the Black neighborhood is once we get collectively. The night, powered by Cadillac, an organization who has supported ABFF and Black excellence for 29 years, supplied a vital increase of heat, hope, and a reminder of the Black pleasure that exists in us even when it looks like all the pieces is towards us. Ensure you take time to rejoice and love in your neighborhood, wherever you might be. We want it greater than ever.
