(upbeat music)
- I think protests are very important
because people can't ignore chance,
people can't ignore large amounts of people
that's in your face.
And whatever they're saying
you're gonna have an understanding of that to some extent.
You're not gonna be able
to ignore it the same way that you ignore posts
or the same way that you ignore something
that you see on the news.
That's in your face and if you're able to understand it
maybe it gets something kicked up in your head
and you come to some new revelation.
Then the protest has done it's job.
People have different creeds, different races,
different genders, ethnicities, all come together
to say that, this definitely needs to be stopped.
And we're gonna be loud about this
so that everyone could hear this and not just ignore it.
- So if you are committed to black people being free,
some of the things that you have to do are not just show up
when it's trendy to show up for black people.
To not just show up for us when we're dead,
the real work starts after the hashtags are over.
(audience claps and cheers)
What are you going to read
in order to understand the way that you participate
in anti-blackness, the way that you participate
in white supremacy.
Who are you going to listen to?
(mumbles)
- When it goes on the news, when it goes in a post,
people could see it, but people could also ignore it.
Could post black lives matter on your story,
but that doesn't mean that you're gonna be out there
on the front line saying, oh yeah, you know what,
they knew justice.
Because when it's time to be loud,
when it's really time to be helpful, most people don't help.
They're able to say like, yeah, I stand with you guys
but it's mostly to go under the radar.
It's just to see like, yeah, don't get me (beep)for that.
It's just to kind of push it off and say, yeah
I stand with you guys, but don't bring me into it.
If the amount of people who are saying
that black lives matter actually mattered.
There wouldn't be a reason for protest
because that many people would be able
to have that conscious change.
But there's a disconnect because of the fact
that they don't do, as they say,
they don't care as much as they say they do.
- You're marching and everyone is having their voice heard.
And you know, whether it be like marching on like town hall
or a freeway to like get people
who normally wouldn't see the cause
or understand the hurt and the raw emotions, they see it.
They have to see it.
They have to walk through you.
They have to see you.
I think that's where, like I really do like to see, you know
where the movement and the protests are going
is because it's these people who normally
would not have talked to each other,
being in a space where they can have a discourse.
And I think that's one of my favorite parts about it.
(mumbles)
And that's why I like black lives matter.
So I'm not sure like everything that's happened
around in the movement, is that it's very decentralized.
You know what I mean? It's very communal based.
People from that town getting up and organizing
and you know, it's not, oh, there's a leader
or like a guy who's telling everybody what to do.
It's very much like, okay,
we the community have acknowledged
that this is a thing we have to do.
And we've seen other places do it.
Now we have to march, we have to, you know
push for our local government
to prosecute these cops or whatever.
- What's his name?
- [Audience] George Floyd.
- Why are we here?
- [Audience] George Floyd.
- I love to see you that.
That's the future of movements.
- We are here today to peacefully mourn George Floyd.
- It's gonna be a lot harder for like the system
to crack down on those movements
because you know, that's what happened to us
in the sixties and the seventies as they assassinated
and locked up all of our leaders.
- I don't wanna see any more live destroyed.
- We still have people
from the native American rights movement that are in prison.
And you know, they're never getting out.
(mumbles)
People that were in the black civil rights movement
you know, people were murdered by the system
and or in prison, and their lives were ruined
and communities were ripped apart
because it challenged the status quo.
And what made society like comfortable.
- So, today for the black people next to you,
we are human, change your mindset.
I need help.
I have been victimized and traumatized
and I watched the video of my cousin last breath
and if they look like me and don't look like you,
spend two minutes or two seconds talking to them.
Find out their story, find out their name.
(audience claps and cheers)
(mumbles)
- I have five siblings.
I wouldn't want them to experience what I've experienced,
to understand that they might experience racism
or have experienced racism that breaks my heart.
And so whenever there's a chance for me to be vocal
about what I have to say, if I can make a change
even if it's in one person's life, that's what I have to do.
Because if I'm not doing anything to stop it
then I'm helping it by ignoring it.
(siren)
And so when you hear those loud protests
going down your street and it makes you feel like nervous
or just uncomfortable, that's giving you an opportunity
to actually listen and change your point of view.
- I think healing is important.
And then also finding a place of love and compassion
for other people,
even though they're not a part of your group.
- And not to have a sense of superiority.
- Yeah, I love my people but I don't believe
we're better than anybody else.
We are a part of everybody else.
And I think it's all through cooperation and the sharing
of ideas that any tangible progress is gonna be made.