"This moment is bigger than me," said both Gina Rodriguez and Jeffrey Tambor. Throughout the night, awards were cited as victories for Latinos (Rodrirguez), transgender folks ("Transparent" star Tambor and series creator Jill Soloway), rape victims (Joanne Froggatt of "Downton Abbey"), people with AIDS (Matt Bomer of "The Normal Heart"), and women in general (Amy Adams of "Big Eyes"). But rapper Common, who shared with R&B crooner John Legend the award for Best Song for "Glory," the tune they co-composed for "Selma," gave a stirring speech in which he said that working on the civil rights drama made him feel solidarity with everyone, from the women who tried in vain to register for the vote in 1965 to the well-meaning white people who joined the march to the two policemen slain in Brooklyn last month. It was a daring gesture of empathy; after all, critics and viewers have noted the the link between the racially motivated police brutality of half a century ago depicted in "Selma" and the current nationwide protests stemming from the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others, but Common’s ability to identify seemed to transcend narrow tribal limits to embrace all those striving for justice. Or, as he put it, "’Selma’ has awakened my humanity."
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