- [Lady Narrator] If you could reach into the hearts
of every black person in America,
what would be your message?
- I need us to hear, no matter how cool they are,
they don't have to come to the barbecue.
You already know they're gonna come.
They're gonna steal the dances and the food.
Try to do the recipes,
and then they're gonna leave us hanging.
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
- [Lady Narrator] If you could reach into the hearts
of every black person in America,
what would be your message?
- I never talked about that before.
- Let me think about that.
- We out here, doing like a press conference,
I'm like, oh, but no script, okay.
(laughing)
- That's hard.
- The brother who just was shot,
I don't have anything to say to prevent his mother
from feeling the way she's feeling.
(sighing)
(exhaling loudly)
- (mumbling) We're resilient, just know that.
- Part of our history is perseverance.
- We've been persevering, this whole day.
- We have to always go that extra mile.
- Just remember, like being black is dope.
I mean, the shit's kind of dangerous,
but it's lit as fuck.
- Don't be scared.
- You are wonderfully and beautifully made.
- You're beautiful.
- You don't have to dim down your light.
- You have amazing ancestry.
- I would give every black person a gift
of knowing their exact family lineage.
- We are the source.
- We are the first and we will be the last.
- There are black people in the future.
- The thing about the slave narrative
is it's disempowering.
But if you learn that there are more pyramids in Sudan
than there are in Egypt.
This is the most empowering thing.
- [ Man Narrator] What needs to be heard?
- That I love you.
- I love you.
- Love.
- Love yourself.
Damn it, love yourself.
- Not like a love that comes from things that you can buy.
Just love yourself in that way
that reflects out toward other black people.
- We need to be kinder to one another
and work on our own internalized anti-blackness.
- Sometimes we're the ones hating ourselves.
- The hate that you have for yourself and for everybody
that looks like you comes from whiteness.
- Something that we were conditioned and taught to have
so that we would not come together
and realize our power.
- Say, what are the things that are eating at inside of us
because of the whiteness of the world
and white supremacy
and dig that out of yourself every single day.
- Don't be manipulated, into doing something
that's not in our best interest.
- When the family feuds, nobody wins, okay,
- Let's get through this together,
- Support each other.
- Unite.
- Unify ourselves.
- We have to stop killing each other.
- We need each other.
- We're bound together.
- Just because I'm mixed with something else
does not mean that your blood does not run through mine
because it is all stolen blood.
- Black kings and queens,
we should not be fighting or putting each other down, ever.
- We can't be your queen and your footstool
at the same time,
- Learn how to accept each other.
- Black transness, doesn't negate your blackness.
- A lot of trans woman don't hear
that they are loved enough.
- You can not love all black people
without loving black trans people.
- Don't you dare leave us hanging
because you're killing people and that shit fucking wrong.
That's how I feel.
- How are we not just doing,
just trying to become oppressors,
if we're not looking out for all of us.
- [Lady Narrator] If you could reach
into the hearts of every black person in America,
what would be your message?
- Try to step into the roles that are normally reserved
for white people.
- Go to school, become lawyers.
- Stay in school as long as you can.
- Become knowledgeable.
- Buy property,
- Start being intentional about where you spend your money.
- Let's go buy our own city.
- Nothing can stop us.
If we built this country, let's build another one.
- Get the hell out of places that don't love you.
- Get the fuck out of this country if you can.
- [Lady Narrator] what do we need to hear right now?
- I would say the fight is not over.
- Fight, fight, fight.
Fight, fight, fight.
As hard as you can.
- Until we don't have to worry about
whether or not getting pulled over by the police
is gonna be our last time seeing the world.
- Don't let them delegitimize our movement.
We got every right to be upset.
- The fact that black people just want justice
and not revenge is a marker of how much grace
we have inside of us.
- We do not revenge.
Even when we are actually supposed to revenge.
- Right now, we need to embrace this moment.
- We have the means and the ability,
to change the world.
- There's something about like doing things now
that you might not even benefit from.
- Black people should be going to shooting ranges
and arming themselves
and preparing for what could be really, really bad.
I'm not gonna stay here,
wait for shit to get real.
And then be like, oh my God,
I've never shot a gun in my life.
And I'm scared.
Like, fuck that.
- Fuck whiteness.
Fuck white people.
Fuck assimilating.
- [Lady Narrator] What do we need to hear?
- Be selfish, shit.
Black people the most unselfish,
forgiving, praise and worship people that I know.
And it's annoying as fuck.
- I would just say center your joy.
- Joy.
- Joy and relaxation.
- Relax.
- Have good orgasms.
(laughing)
- I would reach into their hearts
and just hold them and tell them there are enough.
- We are enough.
- You're enough.
- [Lady Narrator] Is that what you need to hear?
- Yes, okay I'm about to cry.
- I would tell my younger self,
I don't know if you will survive the now.
I'm not gonna give you the talk.
Don't put your hands at 10 and two.
If you didn't do nothing wrong, say I did nothing wrong.
Get shot for it, get killed for it.
They're gonna kill you anyway.
(sighing)
- What I need to hear is as a strong black woman,
it is okay to not always be strong.
- Ask for help.
- Go to therapy.
- It is okay to take a fucking nap.
- You don't have to be stuck in the place that you are in.
- Do not listen to everybody's opinions.
- People know you're tough right,
you don't have to keep proving it.
- You as you are right now.
You are fine.
You're good.
You don't have to magically transform into something else.
- You have intrinsic value just by the simple fact
that you exist.
The people who say you aren't worth shit,
aren't worth shit.