Jesse Williams' BET Speech -- This Is Everything

[ancianita]

Last edited Mon Jun 27, 2016, 01:43 PM - Edit history (10)

Please see this year's BET Awards, the best ever. Mostly for the critiques it gives America.

Jesse Williams, to me, was one of, if not the high point of last night.

Here, he smashes centuries of hustles about "freedom" foisted on black people.

This is a critique of both enemy and ally mentalities toward black people.

"...Yesterday would have been young Tamir Rice's 14th birthday so I don't want to hear any more about how far we've come when paid public servants can pull a drive-by on 12 year old playing alone in the park in broad daylight, killing him on television and then going home to make a sandwich...

The burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander...

If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of a 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've been floatin' this country on credit for centuries, yo. And 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, then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit.

The thing is, though, that just because we're magic doesn't mean we're not real. Thank you."

Viacom and McDonald are the controllers here.

After clicking this link, redirect your click icon to the bottom right blue insert called "BET Award moments," choose See All Moments, then scroll down to the Williams video. It loads poorly, but it's there.

http://www.bet.com/shows/bet-awards/moments.html

[libodem]

1. Awesome

[ancianita]

2. I've probably watched it ten times. It's killer.

[libodem]

3. Saw it first thing this morning

Very inspiring and uplifting.

[proverbialwisdom]

4. OMG x2

http://heavy.com/entertainment/2016/06/bet-awards-2016-time-channel-what-when-is-on-tonight-tv-dates-locations/

HUMANITARIAN AWARD RECIPIENT: Jessie Williams

http://www.bet.com/video/betawards/2016/performances/beyonce-kendrick-lamar-freedom.html

Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar perform ‘FREEDOM’ from her latest album, LEMONADE!

[ancianita]

5. That, too! The whole freakin' night was beyond awesome!

[proverbialwisdom]

10. Genius.com: “Freedom” is an anthem dedicated to black women.

http://genius.com/Beyonce-freedom-lyrics

...But mama, don't cry for me, ride for me
Try for me, live for me
Breathe for me, sing for me
Honestly guidin' me
I could be more than I gotta be
Stole from me, lied to me, nation hypocrisy

<>

(Spoken: Hattie White)
"I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up.
I was served lemons, but I made lemonade."

The song brings Beyoncé’s visual album to an apex with the scene ‘hope’ and features the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner pictured with photos of their deceased sons.

Throughout the song, Beyoncé alludes to herself as a force of nature who can empower other women like herself to break free of the bonds society places on them. She addresses her struggle with infidelity as a black woman, as well as alluding to the history of slavery inflicted upon African-Americans, including current issues and the Black Lives Matter movement. Beyoncé and her writers, musicians, and producers sonically reference the musical memories of all those periods.

Beyoncé is joined by Kendrick Lamar in their first ever collaboration. While Beyoncé focuses on women’s issues, Kendrick continues to touch on institutionalized racism, a major theme of his critically acclaimed 2015 album To Pimp A Butterfly. However, Kendrick also brings women to the forefront, alluding to 2Pac’s “Dear Mama” and “Ride 4 Me” while sending a message of empowerment to his own mother.

In Kendrick’s verse, he employs a style of writing that counts down from ten to five, before switching to a syllable count to further the countdown. This gives the impression that Kendrick is counting down towards something significant. Within context of the song (and the final bars of the verse), Kendrick is likely counting down to freedom from oppression. Yasiin Bey employs a similar writing style on “Mathematics.”

Along with issues affecting black women, social equality justice are major motifs of this song.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/157022-who-is-speaking-about-lemonade-on-beyoncs-freedom-hattie-white-has-a-strong-connection-to-the

Who Is Speaking About Lemonade On Beyoncé's "Freedom"? Hattie White Has A Strong Connection To The Star
Shannon Carlin
April 26

In the final moments of "Freedom," an older woman's voice is heard saying: "I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade." This is the voice of Hattie White, Jay Z's grandmother, taken from a speech she gave at her 90th birthday party last April in Clayton, Delaware.

White's words aren't specific; she doesn't go through the exact moments, the turning points in her life that forced her to find something good in all that was bad. But White makes it clear that to get where she is now she had to rely on herself. She was the one that had to make the lemonade. She had to choose to forgive so that she could find happiness in the future.

The idea of making lemonade is synonymous with the women of the south, the matriarchs of Beyoncé's world like her grandmother-in-law White and her own grandmother, Agnéz Deréon, the mother of her mother Tina Knowles. Beyoncé even lays out the recipe for lemonade in the final section of the film, "Redemption," which falls between "Freedom" and "All Night." She says, "Take one pint of water, add half pound of sugar/ The juice of eight lemons, the zest of half lemon/ Pour the water from one jug, then to the other several times/Strain through a clean napkin."

Beyoncé refers to her grandma as the alchemist who "broke the curse with her own two hands," the curse being the sadness that follows the women who have been pulled down by the moments in their life that could not be corrected. "You passed these instructions down to your daughter," Beyoncé explains. "Who then passed it down to her daughter." And Beyoncé will likely pass it down to her own daughter.

White's message of making lemonade is more than just a recipe; it's a metaphor that focuses on the healing process. Now it's become the mantra of Beyoncé's new album, the reason she decided to forgive. To turn those lemons into lemonade, to let the good outweigh the bad.

Another mother's name to know, Sheila Lewis Ealey. Read around.

[ancianita]

11. Thank you, pro, you are truly generous with all this knowledge. The work of history through

creativity, then creativity that calls back through mother and daughter is enspiriting.

[proverbialwisdom]

13. If not for your OP, I would've missed this whole, hugely inspirational story, so thank you!

Every time I look at this thread I'm deeply moved, too, and cannot engage with dry eyes either.

[ancianita]

6. Fuck this Viacom blackout. BET doesn't even have it. Silencing is racist. Fuck Viacom.

[proverbialwisdom]

7. Shocking censorship, unless he requested it, but unlikely he censored his own #truthtopower speech.

Two parts here: https://twitter.com/__Mo/status/747255901271138306/video/1

https://twitter.com/marclamonthill/status/747460578986254337

Marc Lamont Hill ?@marclamonthill
1h1 hour ago

Jesse Williams spoke truth to power within a space that rewards dishonesty, complicity, and victim blaming. He was COURAGEOUS.

[ancianita]

9. Thanks for the additional links!. He also knows how black celebrity getting paid ain't enough.

[proverbialwisdom]

8. Thanks for the instructions.

http://www.bet.com/video/betawards/2016/acceptance-speeches/jesse-williams-receives-humanitarian-award.html

[Stellar]

12. Jesse Williams....

Actor Jesse Williams was born Aug. 5, 1981, in Chicago. He graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia. After graduation, he taught English, African Studies and American Studies in Philadelphia Public Schools for six years. While teaching, he auditioned for acting roles, landing his first big break on Law & Order in 2006. He currently stars on the ABC TV show Grey’s Anatomy.

[proverbialwisdom]

14. Check it out: Relay race baton passed from Harry Belafonte to Jesse Williams in this stylized photo

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHKlXVIBNd1/?taken-by=drrachael

[ancianita]

15. Heh heh...considering how much shit they've both been getting...yep!