Jesse Williams has been talked about since he blew a lot of minds with his speech at the BET Awards but I'm not surprised. He continuously proves himself as relevant to the cause of racial equality by expressing consciousness on his Twitter so his remarks on Sunday made his fans love him even more. He said so. much. stuff. but I'll be highlighting some of them and why they needed to be said at this very time.
In appreciating his parents, he thanked them for teaching him what "schools are afraid to teach". There's a lot going on in America that isn't touched on in most of the existing areas of socialization and schools are an example. The day-to-day experiences of people of color are rarely relayed in their academics and because of this, parents have had to make sure their children know the deal from an early age. There is only one point of view present in the society and it isn't theirs.
Jesse reminds us that a system against us cannot stand if we do. Why do we bring ourselves down when structures are in place to do so? How many posts did I see between Sunday and the day after pointing out Jesse William's bi-racialism and how "he isn't really black because it's just his father"? (seriously?) A house divided against itself can never stand and we need to be conscious of that.
In his speech, he also appreciates black women and their tendency to nurture everyone before themselves. It shouldn't be a mystery how he recognizes the strength and struggles of black women seeing as his mother is white because it is obvious to everyone in America how dejected they are. More often than should be the case, black mothers mourn lost children from the evil that is police brutality and the slap on the wrist the killers get. Black lives matter.
One of my favorites parts of this speech is the challenge to what can be coined as 'conditional freedom'.
"She would've been alive if she hadn't acted so... free."
Cases like Sandra Bland bring this to reality. Basically, America is telling us that we deserve to be alive and free but only if we do not live freely. Because when we do, it becomes our fault we were shot, our fault we were imprisoned, and our fault we were killed in prison.
To all the neutral people - those who say we are right to fight for our freedom but should do so quietly - we condemn your critique of the resistance and ask you to keep your suggestions to yourself. Sit down. To whiteness, and its ability to pick apart our culture and brilliance for its benefit while simultaneously rendering it invaluable - sit down.
As far as award acceptance speeches go, this is one of the best I've heard. It was timely and the tea was well dished out. Black people have a long way to go; we're magic and we can get there. But just because we're magic doesn't mean we're not real.
