The BET Awards was aired on June 26, 2016 on a Sunday and it was a spectacular show. The show consisted of tributes to the legend, Prince, who had died in April. People like Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson, Erykah Badu--just to name a few--blew the water in singing the iconic Prince songs. The opening of the show was none the least shy of being great as Beyoncé sang her song "Freedom" featuring Kendrick Lamar. The jokes made by the host, Anthony Anderson and Tracy Ellis Rose made the transitions of the show smooth and gave the crowd great laughs. Even with the spectacular performances by artists and surprises, only one person the world is talking about constantly....Jesse Williams. Jesse Williams has won the humanitarian award for being contributing to the Black lives matter movement. His speech is what captured the crowd and all the millions of people watching it.
The speech was about the truth that is going on today about Black people in America from police brutality to saying that "just because we are magic doesn't mean that we aren't real." The speech immediately caught attention and, memes and even shirts were created from his speech. However, as important the message is, it will receive backlash. As expected, some white people haven't acknowledged their white privilege and undertones of racism, and All lives matter movement reared its head in this one. However, the biggest disappointment was the black people taking light of his speech because he is half white and half black. Some even refused to give him credit because of that and commented that he can't speak on black issues unless he is fully black.
Who cares about what he is mixed with? Jesse Williams is out in the world spreading awareness about how Black lives are as equal and precious as others while people exterminate blacks like pests. This is a point where we see blacks hurting other blacks who are trying to uplift the community as a whole. Jesse Williams may be half white but, he is a very proud BLACK man who uplifts black women and fights against oppression. Also, something as equally disturbing is Tomi Lahren's from The Blaze response to Jesse Williams speech. This was utterly racist and what I call the white tears spilling.
She is the a prime example of how black people does not have the same treatment as white people. Lahren even tries to criminalize Tamir rice because he was playing with a toy gun. In all honesty, we all know that if it was a 12-year-old white boy at a park with the toy he wouldn't have been looked at twice. She even goes as far as to say that white people fought in the Civil War for black freedom. In reality, the reason why it was more white than black fighting was because blacks were still enslaved and were not allowed to fight for their freedom. The same whites who may have fought still didn't see blacks as equals thus the Jim Crow laws afterwards. Both blacks and whites are battling against Jesse Williams but I applaud the fact that he risked his career for the Black lives matter movement and for all blacks.
