At the BET Awards on the evening of June 26, 2016, actor and activist Jesse Williams had the audience roaring with applause as he spoke of social justice for black Americans. Williams received the Humanitarian Award for his involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement, including creating the Stay Woke documentary. Here are the most powerful lines from his speech, and some appropriate reactions:

“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.”

“THE MORE WE LEARN ABOUT WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE GOT HERE, THE MORE WE WILL MOBILIZE.”

“THIS IS ALSO IN PARTICULAR FOR THE BLACK WOMEN IN PARTICULAR WHO HAVE SPENT THEIR LIFETIMES DEDICATED TO NURTURING EVERYONE BEFORE THEMSELVES.”

“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 EVERY DAY. SO WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IS WE’RE GOING TO HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS AND JUSTICE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY OR WE WILL RESTRUCTURE THEIR FUNCTION IN OURS.”

“NOW, I GOT MORE, Y’ALL.”

“YESTERDAY WOULD HAVE BEEN YOUNG TAMIR RICE’S 14TH BIRTHDAY. SO, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE ABOUT HOW FAR WE’VE COME WHEN PAID PUBLIC SERVANTS CAN PULL A DRIVE-BY ON A 12-YEAR-OLD PLAYING ALONE IN A PARK IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, KILLING HIM ON TELEVISION AND THEN GOING HOME TO MAKE A SANDWICH.”

“TELL REKIA BOYD HOW IT’S SO MUCH BETTER TO LIVE IN 2012, THAN IT IS TO LIVE IN 1612 OR 1712. TELL THAT TO ERIC GARNER. TELL THAT TO SANDRA BLAND. TELL THAT TO DARRIEN HUNT.”

“THE THING IS, THOUGH, ALL OF US IN HERE GETTING MONEY THAT ALONE ISN’T GOING TO STOP THIS. ALL RIGHT? NOW DEDICATING OUR LIVES TO GETTING MONEY JUST TO GIVE IT RIGHT BACK. TO PUT SOMEONE’S BRAND ON OUR BODY WHEN WE SPENT CENTURIES PRAYING WITH BRANDS ON OUR BODIES AND NOW WE PRAY TO GET PAID WITH BRANDS FOR OUR BODIES.”

“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’S NO TAX THEY HAVEN’T LEVIED AGAINST US. AND WE PAY 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.”

“FREEDOM IS ALWAYS COMING IN THE HEREAFTER BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT, THOUGH, THE HEREAFTER IS A HUSTLE. WE WANT IT NOW.”

“THE BURDEN OF THE BRUTALIZED IS NOT TO COMFORT THE BYSTANDER. THAT’S NOT OUR JOB… 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 IN EQUAL RIGHTS FOR BLACK PEOPLE, THEN DO NOT MAKE SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE WHO DO. SIT DOWN.”

“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.”

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On Thursday, June 30, 2016, Tomi Lahren of The Blaze TV gave her “Final Thoughts” on Jesse Williams’ widely-shared speech at the BET Awards. These responses seem appropriate.

“WELL THE B.E.T. AWARDS WERE LAST NIGHT, NOTABLY THEY WERE VERY BLACK. OH, BUT CAN I SAY THAT, WHAT WITH MY WHITENESS AND ALL? WELL TOO DAMN BAD.”

We’ve got a badass over here.

The Black Entertainment Television awards were very black? That’s a real mindf*ck. Somehow, it’s hard to imagine white and black liberals criticizing such a statement, unless of course it was naked bravado to clue an audience in that the next few minutes would be full of frightening ignorance and a startling lack of compassion for fellow human beings…

“I SAW A LOT OF TALENT ON THAT STAGE, BUT ALSO A LOT OF VICTIMHOOD.”

I see a lack of talent behind that desk, but also a lack of well-established research on racial inequities.

When blacks are 50% less likely to get a call back for an interview as whites with identical resumes, when blacks receive longer prison sentences than whites who commit the same crimes, or when blacks are more likely to be given a subprime housing loan than whites with equal qualifications, “victimhood” just may be an appropriate word.

“THE B.E.T. DEFINITION OF HUMANITARIAN MEANS SOMEONE WHO PERPETUATES A WAR ON COPS.”

Lahren is one of those souls who doesn’t quite grasp that protesting the fact that blacks are more likely to be stopped and searched by the police, or more likely to be killed while unarmed, than whites who exhibit the same behaviors, is not a “war on cops.”

Kind of like how today we say Dr. King led “protests” in Selma against voting restrictions, not “wars” against the conservative politicians who designed them.

“KILLING SOMEONE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT AND THEN GOING HOME TO MAKE A SANDWICH? ARE YOU KIDDING ME, JESSE? KNOW WHAT ELSE IS INTERESTING, BUD? THOUGH THE TERM ‘UNARMED BLACK MAN’ MAY BE LITERALLY ACCURATE, IT DOESN’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY IN MOST CASES… GRABBING AN OFFICER’S GUN OR USING OTHER EQUIPMENT TO BEAT THE POLICE DOESN’T GIVE YOU A FREE PASS.”

Williams was speaking about the killing of Tamir Rice, a boy playing with a toy gun in an open-carry state and given no chance to surrender, not that this matters to Lahren. She pivots immediately to black violence against police, of course citing multiple peer-reviewed studies that show black aggression is why more unarmed blacks die at the hands of police, disproving all the evidence that whites stereotype blacks as violent and aggressive (perhaps we know one of them at this point) and are quicker to shoot unarmed or armed blacks in controlled simulations than unarmed or armed whites.

“PLEASE TELL ME, MR. WILLIAMS, WHAT RIGHTS BLACK PEOPLE DON’T HAVE.”

Tomi Lahren does not understand the difference between a piece of paper that says everyone will be treated equally and reality.

“WHITE PEOPLE? YEAH, WE DO HAVE A RECORD OF CRITIQUE OF YOUR OPPRESSION… DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY OF OUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT IN THE CIVIL WAR TO FREE YOUR ANCESTORS?”

Oh sweetheart, when Jesse Williams says, “If you have a critique for the resistance, our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression,” he isn’t talking about anyone in the past.

He’s not talking about Union soldiers who cared about black freedom, or those who didn’t care but fought anyway, or those who were drafted, or Confederate soldiers terrified of black freedom and equal rights, or those who didn’t care but fought anyway, or those who were drafted.

He’s talking about you.

He’s saying if you, Tomi, haven’t been raising hell about blacks serving longer prison sentences than whites, if you are ignorant of social injustices, don’t stand in the way of those who have and aren’t.

“IT WAS WHITE SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS THAT FOUGHT FOR, NOT AGAINST, SLAVERY.”

Good, now tell them which party was more conservative back then, using historical sources!

“I’M SORRY, JESSE, BUT I WON’T BE APOLOGIZING FOR MY WHITENESS, JUST LIKE YOU DON’T NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR BLACKNESS. IT’S NOT WHITE PEOPLE WORKING TO DIVIDE AMERICA, IT’S YOU. YOU AND BEYONCE AND JADA PINKETT SMITH AND AL SHARPTON.”

Williams talks about unequal treatment, Lahren says she won’t apologize for being white. Makes sense, since Williams absolutely asked white people to apologize for their ethnicity.

“FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS EQUAL RIGHTS, IT SURE SOUNDS LIKE YOU PREFER SPECIAL TREATMENT. IT SURE SOUNDS LIKE YOU WANT A GOLD STAR AT THE END OF THE DAY JUST FOR BEING BORN. GET OVER YOURSELF.”

Yes, everyone knows the call for an end to discrimination is a call to be treated better than everyone else.

“YOU’RE NOT A HUMANITARIAN, YOU’RE NOT A UNIFIER. YOU’RE NOT TEACHING BLACK CHILDREN TO GO FORTH AND CONQUER, YOU’RE TEACHING THEM TO FEEL SORRY FOR THEMSELVES. NICE WORK, AND HOW ABOUT YOU SIT DOWN.”

“Go forth and conquer.”

That is precisely what Jesse Williams and everyone else who cares about social justice, who listens to and feels compassion for those who feel mistreated or slighted are teaching their children when they battle modern American problems.

With whites as delusional as Tomi Lahren out there, it seems important.

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A group of prisoners broke out of a cell in the District Courts Building of Weatherford, Texas, on June 23, 2016, to aid a guard suffering from a heart attack, KSDK 5 reports.

The guard, unidentified to the press, standing watch over the group of about 8 inmates, “had been joking with them when he slumped over unconscious.”

The prisoners shouted for help, but when none came smashed out of their cell. Checking for a pulse, they didn’t find one, and continued to shout while pounding on walls.

One inmate said, “[Officers] thought it was a fight. They thought we were taking over.” Another said, “We were worried they’re going to come with guns drawn on us.” The guard had a set of keys and a gun on him, which went untouched.

Officers gave the guard CPR and ushered the prisoners back into their cell. Paramedics sent a shock through the guard’s body, restored his pulse, and rushed him away.

“He could have been there 15 minutes before any other staff walked in and found him,” the police captain said.

The guard survived.

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41 men and women blocked traffic on I-35 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during rush hour on July 13, 2016, to protest the police shooting of Philando Castile. They linked arms and held their ground for about an hour, chanting and singing, causing mass gridlock.

Castile, a school cook from St. Paul, was shot to death by a police officer. Castile’s girlfriend and her daughter were in the car with him — his girlfriend captured his last moments on video. Castile reportedly informed the officer he had a gun and a license to carry, but while reaching for his papers the officer opened fire. According to NBC News, the policeman thought Castile was a suspect in a robbery case.

State troopers arrested the protesters and put them on a city bus. No injuries were reported.

The “Coalition to Wake Your Ass Up,” the group responsible, released a statement after the protest, writing that

…this shut down reinforces our belief that comfort and business as usual must be disrupted until substantive changes occur in our city and throughout the country. We support community-led alternatives, solutions, and programs to protect our communities. On this day, we support the workers attempting to make a living but we also know that sacrifices must be made if we hope to live decently together.

The group is made up of whites and non-black people of color.

Black Lives Matter delivered the statement to the public on behalf of the coalition. Black Lives Matter Minneapolis spokesperson Oluchi Omeoga said, “Yeah, this is a slight inconvenience on your day, maybe 10, 15 minutes. Philando’s family is inconvenienced for the rest of their lives.”

The protest was reportedly inspired by similar highway shutdowns in St. Paul and other cities after the deaths of Castile and Alton Sterling last week.

The protesters are being charged with misdemeanors.

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