Ryan Coogler Cites Vital DGA Healthcare, Speaks Of “Domestic Carnage At The Hands Of Our Government” At DGA Awards

Ryan Coogler has thanked the DGA for their healthcare support — a key issue right now especially, with the approaching DGA negotiations that may well determine how the union’s healthcare is doled out.

During his acceptance speech, where he collected his DGA nominees’ medallion presented to him by his Sinners lead actor Michael B. JordanCoogler called out the DGA for their healthcare in reference to his son, who was sick.

“I’m extra nervous today, because my anchor, my life partner, is not here. My wife and producer, Zinzi, is at home with our son, who is fairly sick, and we’re new to the parenting thing,” Coogler said. “He’s going to be good. But I’ve got to tell you, this past week, this past year, I’ve never been prouder to have one of these, and never been prouder to have one of these.” At these words he held up his DGA membership card and his insurance card, to huge cheers from the crowd.

They would shut the porch down whenever they saw any kind of domestic carnage, like we’re experiencing right now, at the hands of our government

Ryan Coogler

He continued, “As studio filmmakers, you know, we can probably afford the hospital visits. It’s a lot of membership who wouldn’t be able to so I’m forever grateful to to to the guild — for all its flawed history, you know what I mean? I’m very proud that we take care of each other.”

Coogler’s comment about the flawed history seemed to reference host Kumail Nanjiani’s earlier assertion in his opening monologue.

Nanjiani had made mention of the DW Griffith’s past racist associations, saying, “I did find out that the Lifetime Achievement Award used to be known as the DW Griffith award, named after the director who, in 1915 made a movie called Birth of a Nation which glorifies the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force that maintains white supremacy. It has been called the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history. So of course, we have to change the name of the award as soon as we could, which was 1999. Because until 1999 we were like, ‘KKK? Let’s see how things play out?’ They changed the name of these at the 51st DGA awards. It’s the first time something has turned 51 and gotten less racist.”

Coogler added that he was generally proud to be a guild member, and talked about the deep resonance and importance of that within his family history.

“I wanted to be a director since I was 17 and found out what it was. But way before that, I wanted to be a part of a union. My grandfather, who moved from Mississippi and built our house in North Oakland with his bare hands, and died a year before I was born, was a longshoreman in Oakland. He was a member of the ILWU local team. And my uncle, who’s still the oldest family member we have, was a Black Panther. And when the Black Panther suffered the military defeat that they suffered, he took on his father’s job, which was which was godfathered in, as a union policy, and he was able to help my family out with that salary whenever we needed something. And help me get through private schools and assisted me traveling all over the country. And he kept that revolutionary spirit even when he was working with the union as a treasurer.

Coogler also called attention to the current “carnage” situation in the U.S.

He continued, speaking of his uncle, “They would shut the porch down when Oscar Grant was murdered [Oscar Grant III, an unarmed 22-year-old Black man, who was shot dead by police in 2009]. They would shut the porch down whenever they saw any kind of domestic carnage, like we’re experiencing right now, at the hands of our government; international carnage like we’ve been seeing over the last last few years. And I always looked up to him. I always wanted to be a member of a union, and I’ve got to thank the DGA for accepting me.”