CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Bouncing on the balls of their feet and clapping in sync, the girls each shouted “My girl power!” in a call-and-response type fashion led by a woman named, “Coach Nicky.”
“My girl power! My girl power! My girl power! My girl power! My girl power! My girl power… looks like confidence, bravery, ambition, clarity.”
Then, when one woman — inconspicuously clad in an oversized sweatshirt and baggy jeans, with hair pulled into a long, curly ponytail — joined the circle, she shouted that her girl power looks like peace.
Her youthful appearance obscuring the glow of celebrity, the teenage girls slowly started using a language of elbow pointing and darting eyeballs to signal they knew exactly who was now standing before them: Kerry Washington was in the building.
Or rather, she was underneath the tent outside the home of the nonprofit Girls for a Change (GFAC) on Buford Road in the Midlothian area of Chesterfield County.
“I’m so excited to see your space,” Washington said. “I feel like what you have created in the world, in this program, when you’ve been together and what has been documented in the film ‘Daughters,’ I know is only the tip of the iceberg of who you are.”
“Daughters” is an award-winning film co-directed by Girls for a Change co-founder Angela Patton that can be found on Netflix. Washington joined the project as an executive producer earlier this year.
In doing so, she has helped elevate the profile of the work of Girls for a Change, which is featured in the documentary. The documentary follows four young girls and their fathers as they prepare to see each other at a father-daughter dance inside a jail in Washington, D.C.
The emotional movie is described by many involved as a “love story” — one that tells the story of daughters, their relationship with their incarcerated fathers and how to heal the broken bonds.
The documentary presents the question of whether facility policies that increasingly prevent in-person or “touch” visits for inmates are dehumanizing to both the inmates and their innocent children and how allowing them can reduce someone’s potential for recidivism.
During her visit to Chesterfield, Washington fielded several questions from the girls and implored those old enough to vote to do so. She also told those who are too young to encourage those around them to vote in ways that advance the issues important to their lives.
“When we step into our power, in all kinds of ways — the ways you learn to do here every day — voting is a part of stepping into that power,” Washington said. “Because it’s how we love ourselves and love our community when it comes to the people who make big decisions about how we live our lives.”
It was a man voters elected, former Richmond Sheriff C. T. Woody, who had the power to say “yes” to a letter from GFAC more than a decade ago. In it, the girls requested a father-daughter dance in the city’s jail for some of their friends.
Their initiative and his “yes” set in motion the series of events that has led to quite possibly the biggest year yet for the organization. The documentary started by winning the top prize at Sundance and the accolades have continued pouring in since.
Months after premiering on Netflix, the film still has a 100% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a site where viewers rate and review movies.
The many awards and steps — like Washington joining the film — have positively affected the Girls for a Change “Impact” campaign, which would make it easier for Patton to influence more girls’ lives and do the kind of work shown in the documentary.
Before a screening of the film at the Altria Theater in Richmond on Thursday night after Washington’s surprise visit, panelists, including Washington, issued a call to action during a fireside chat for those set to view the film.
It’s a call some audience members told an 8News crew they intend to respond to in the Central Virginia community by pushing for change.
