“A system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do.”
In his passionate acceptance speech last night, BET Humanitarian Award recipient Jesse Williams got real about the Black Lives Matter era – in under five minutes. Grey’s Anatomy fans know him as the gorgeous head of plastic surgery, Jackson Avery, but he is also a former teacher who shows up at rallies and on the news, pushing for awareness and change.
There were lots of beautifully worded nuggets of truth in his speech Sunday night – a quick favorite on social media was “just because we’re not magic doesn’t mean we’re not real” – but something struck me about this one.
It speaks to the diversity of the movement – though our focus is on Black lives, the end goal is to improve life and create both equity and equality for everyone. These systems of oppression cannot hold us down if we stand up against them.
I started my Monday motivation posts because I needed an extra push to get back to work after the leisure of the weekend, and I thought my readers would to. This edition of Monday motivation is different, though – hopefully it sparks something that has been too inactive for too long within many of us.
If Williams’ speech taught me anything it was this: there is always more work to be done. We might not all have the means to fly in to Ferguson or bail out protestors, but we all have a voice and we each have our own platforms. If every small voice whispers for change, it will sound like a mighty roar. We can dismantle the institutions of oppression, brick by brick. Jesse Williams to me so.
Watch the full video here.
It speaks to the diversity of the movement – though our focus is on Black lives, the end goal is to improve life and create both equity and equality for everyone. These systems of oppression cannot hold us down if we stand up against them.
I started my Monday motivation posts because I needed an extra push to get back to work after the leisure of the weekend, and I thought my readers would to. This edition of Monday motivation is different, though – hopefully it sparks something that has been too inactive for too long within many of us.
If Williams’ speech taught me anything it was this: there is always more work to be done. We might not all have the means to fly in to Ferguson or bail out protestors, but we all have a voice and we each have our own platforms. If every small voice whispers for change, it will sound like a mighty roar. We can dismantle the institutions of oppression, brick by brick. Jesse Williams to me so.
Watch the full video here.