Last Sunday's 2016 BET Awards delivered exciting performances by Beyoncé featuring Kendrick Lamar and star-studded tributes to Prince by Jennifer Hudson, Janelle Monáe, Sheila E. and many other amazing artists. One of the most passionate and instantly talked about moments of the show came from Grey's Anatomy actor and Social Justice Activist, Jesse Williams.

Williams accepted the Humanitarian award for his unfailing commitment to the Black Lives Matter Movement and his continuous activism for civil rights. Viewers took to Twitter to comment on his speech.

#jessewilliams

Best speech 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥https://t.co/3mJekMGp5I
— Uche Jombo Rodriguez (@uchejombo) June 27, 2016

When listening to his acceptance speech it's no surprise that he received this award because the passion and real facts that he drops during this speech. It speaks volumes on many of the problems regarding race that black people have faced in our country forever and continue to face.

As a humble recipient, Williams deferred attention from himself, saying, "this award - this is not for me. This is for the real organizers all over the country, the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do". Even though he gave credit to other groups, Williams himself fits in many of the groups he mentioned.

Before becoming an actor, he was a high school history teacher in Philadelphia in a very low-income neighborhood. Additionally, he produced and starred in “Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement,” an original documentary that aired on BET. He also produces Question Bridge, a special project that highlights the experiences of black men in the United States. Furthermore he serves on the board of the Advancement Project, which is a national civil rights organization. These are just some of the ways Jesse Williams serves as an activist and educator.

Other highlights of his speech included when he spat out facts regarding the difference between who gets to live and receives a chance in our country when confronted by the police in most situations..."Now, what we've been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to de-escalate, disarm and not kill white people every day. So what's going to happen is we are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours..."

Then, Williams went on to talk about freedom. A word that means so many things to so many people..."But freedom is somehow always conditional here (United States). 'You're free,' they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn't acted so... free..." Instantly this reminded me of Sandra Bland who Williams mentioned earlier in his speech.

Another critical point was made when he took a direct shot at anyone trying to put down or criticize essentially the Black Lives Matters Movement and other attempts to gain equal rights for black people..."And let's get a couple things straight, just a little side note: the burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. That's not our job, alright; stop with all that. If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression. If you have no interest—if you have no interest in equal rights for black people, then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down."

While it's so easy for people to comment on things they don't truly understand due to lack of education, hatred or any other reason, Jesse is saying that it is unacceptable to comment unless you are trying to help black people achieve equal rights. What is the point of speaking on something if you have no positive intentions? People are so quick to speak about an array of ideas, situations, people and problems especially when it comes to race but what good is speaking if you don't have the facts and records and to back up what you say? Furthermore, you cannot place yourself in the shoes of a person who has been oppressed because of the color of their skin. It's not an experience that you have or will ever fully understand and it's not our job as black people or other people of color to make you feel comfortable about that.

Finally, he closed his speech by tying everything together..."We've been floating this country on credit for centuries, yo, and we're done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil - black gold, ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. The thing is though... the thing is that just because we're magic doesn't mean we're not real."

A beautiful closing to an amazing speech.However, this has to be more than a speech this has to be something people realize and understand. For some people that may come by waking up and everything just clicking but for most, it will come by education. We have to educate ourselves about the past to understand why we are where we are now, in order to create a better future now! The great thing is the records of racism, extracting of black culture, and gentrification of just about everything Mr. Williams alludes to can be found in books and through online research. If you take away anything from this speech it should be that the time for change is now and that starts by educating yourself so that you can make a difference.