![\"Mahershala](\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ali.jpeg?resize=600%2C335\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMahershala Ali delivered an incredible\u00a0SAG Awards acceptance speech, highlighting his Muslim faith and\u00a0the themes of\u00a0Moonlight<\/em> to convey a powerful message about persecution and acceptance.<\/p>\n Moonlight highlights three parts of a young gay<\/a> man<\/a>\u2019s life. Ali plays Juan, a drug dealer who becomes a father figure to the central character Chiron as he tries to evade bullies.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what I\u2019ve learned working on Moonlight is we see what happens when you persecute people,\u201d said Ali. \u201cThey fold into themselves. What I was so grateful about in having the opportunity to play Juan was playing a gentleman who saw a young man<\/a> folding into himself\u00a0as a result of the persecution of his community, and taking that opportunity to uplift him and tell him that he mattered. And tell him that he was okay. And accept him. And I hope we do a better job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we get caught up in the minutia, in the details that make us all different, I think there\u2019s two ways of seeing that.,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s an opportunity to see the texture of that person, the characteristics that make them unique. And then there\u2019s the opportunity to go to war about it. And to say that that person is different than me, and I don\u2019t like you, so let\u2019s battle.\u201d<\/p>\n Ali then made a resonant point about religion:<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother is an ordained minister. I\u2019m a Muslim. She didn\u2019t do backflips when I called her to tell her when I converted seventeen years ago. But I tell you know, you put things to the side. I\u2019m able to see her. She\u2019s able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. And that stuff is minutia. It\u2019s not that important.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch:<\/p>\n