The BET Humanitarian Award. "It is given to a celebrity philanthropist who donates their time and money to a charitable cause." [Wikipedia "BET Awards"] This is a very noble award to win. It clearly represents the definition of humanitarian - concerned with or seeking to promote human welfare. A philanthropist donating time and/or money to a cause would fall under that category. Jesse Williams rightfully deserves this award. He has donated of himself to the promotion of discontinuing the "schoolhouse to jailhouse" track that so many young black men are forced into because of certain areas and regions in our country working against them. He is working to improve and change the social climate of young black men and women - to give them the same opportunities he had access to. Making their black lives matter more to them than being a poor and uneducated thug in the ghetto. He also marches with those who march in these justice-forsaken areas. He works with civil rights lawyers and is dedicated to equality - true equality; where all people have a fighting chance from birth and not an up-hill climb.
The speech Jesse Williams gave at the awards began in such a way, it indeed spoke to the continuing efforts in these philanthropic areas. "Now, 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.
It’s kind of basic mathematics – the more we learn about who we are and how we got here, the more we will mobilize.
Now, this is also in particular for the black women in particular who have spent their lifetimes dedicated to nurturing everyone before themselves. We can and will do better for you."
By saying these things, he is emphasizing how the perpetuation of the "black and thug" culture will come to an end. Once those in these situations get out of them and actually care to get out of them, his philanthropic mission will have been achieved. By saying "we can and will do better for you", he is promising to make that nurturing mean something when their friends, family, and children succeed because of who they are and not their physical traits. In doing this, a flawed system will crumble and true equality - with persons of all colors respecting and deserving of respect - will be reached throughout the USA and not just in most places.
THAT is a real winner of a Humanitarian Award.
Now, if you proceed to listen to the rest of the acceptance speech, we go from a Humanitarian to a Blackitarian (concerned with or seeking to promote black welfare over all others and as a superior class of persons).
This is where I begin to separate in thought with Mr. Williams.
"Now, what we’ve been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to deescalate, disarm and not kill white people everyday. 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."
At this point, we have turned the switch from "break the stereotype by not being the stereotype & be better people" to "whitey with a badge will kill you if you so much as look at them slightly angered and are black". Jesse Williams has taken this from a cry to promote a better social atmosphere among the black community through is philanthropy to blaming every white person in the country.
He goes on to say:
"There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There is no tax they haven’t leveed against us – and we’ve paid all of them. But freedom is somehow always conditional here. “You’re free,” they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn’t acted so… free."
But so has everyone else. This point where he has reached an "US" and "THEM" line in the sand is the reason there is such a problem in the country today. During an episode of Grey's Anatomy, Maggie and Amy were talking and Maggie explains that to be black, you always have that little voice in the back of your mind saying, "it's because I'm black". She explained also that it is like how women have that small voice in the back of their head saying, "It's because I have a vagina". If that is the truth, then people who are hearing that voice need to get over themselves and quit accusing everyone who is not black of being a racist... because that in itself is racist. As a woman, I do not hear that little voice accusing people of being sexist pigs. I was not raised to think that way; therefore, I do not think that way. A contributor to the perpetuation of racial divides and inequality, is assuming people are racist because they are white. I refuse to hate someone based on their race. I also refuse to tolerate someone because of the color of their skin. I (and many others) judge based on a person's character - I (and many others) would appreciate the same gesture.
As for conditional freedom, look around you. If you are white, Christian, pro-gun, republican, female, pro-life, or for Donald Trump, you might as well unplug because if anyone finds out, you will get electronically lynched - because you are not allowed to have your own ideas or voice them. I do agree that the Tamir Rice situation could have been handled better. On the heels of a BLM snippit in his speech, "but she would have been alive if she hadn't acted so... free", begs the question - freedom to steal? freedom to loot? freedom to wave around a weapon look-a-like? freedom to be high-up and commit armed robbery? Freedom does not mean doing whatever you feel like, acting like a "thug", and expecting to not get arrested; expecting not to get injured or even killed for violently resisting. I don't care what color your skin is. If you are breaking the law and you resist, you have made your choice and sometimes the consequence is death.
Thus, Jesse Williams is the clear winner of not only the Humanitarian Award, but the Blackitarian Award as well. He has some fantastic ideas, and those few places in the country which are unjustly oppressing minorities need looked at. But this should not be a strict Black vs White, Us vs Them fight. THAT is what perpetuates racism and violence between the two. We are more equal than you think and everyone is tired of the race games.
For Extra Reading...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/
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