Every Time Jesse Williams Dropped the Mic
The actor and activist has been breaking it down for years.
1 / 11
Stay Woke - Jesse Williams's speech during last night's BET Awards, as he accepted his Humanitarian Award, is one that will go down in history. But it wasn't the first time the Grey's Anatomy actor spoke eloquently on matters of race and equality. Here are some more of his mic drop moments. (Photo: Kevin Winter/BET/Getty Images for BET)
2 / 11
On Michael Brown and the Narrative of Oppression - "We also have to talk about the narrative, and making sure we're starting at the beginning," Jesse said on CNN. "You will find that the people doing the oppressing will always want to start at a convenient point, they'll always want to start the story in the middle. This started with a kid getting shot and killed and left in the street for four hours. I’ve never seen a white body left in the heat for four hours in the sweltering heat.” (Photo: CNN)
3 / 11
On Double Standards - “The interesting thing about white power and the desperate white knuckling grip on this thing call whiteness, which is a myth in itself, is that Black folks… we’re not asking you to invent new laws for us. We’re asking you to include us in the laws that are already on the books," he said. "Trayvon Martin did not invent the hood on a sweatshirt and wear it down the street, he used the hood that already exists that white boys wear as a uniform all over this country. Anytime Black people want to use the benefits of the flag that they pledge allegiance to and fight on the front lines of every single war since the founding of this nation, they treat us like we’re trying to invent something new and special for ourselves when all we’re asking for, or demanding in this case, is inclusion in a fully formed, well-oiled machine that already exists.” (Photo: BET)
4 / 11
On the LGBT Movement - "It's just like what's happening in the gay rights movement. Back when I was a kid, everybody said F-A-G. Because we didn't know any better and that's what people said," he admitted. "And then you meet some people... and you realize, 'Oh, that's a human being. I'm an a**hole. I shouldn't be talking like that, that hurts people.' Look how quickly the LGBT movement moved forward." (Photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic)
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This Generation's Harry Belafonte - Williams won't hesitate to take his fellow celebrities to task, which is just one of the reasons he draws comparisons to Belafonte. In 2013, called out Quentin Tarantino over Django Unchained: “Films such as Django Unchained carry with them an uncommonly high concentration of influence and opportunity. Due to the scarcity of diverse and inspiring representations on screen, Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie casts a longer shadow than many are willing to acknowledge.” (Photos from Left: Anna Webber/Getty Images for The New Yorker, John Lamparski/Getty Images)
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6 / 11
On Eric Garner - Jesse took to his Twitter to address the death of Eric Garner. "ATTN: all of you justify-anything 'patriots' who reflexively spout excuses great & small for ANY & ALL violent death of Black/African people," he tweeted. "Kindly provide a list of offenses that are punishable by violence & public execution at the hands of men uniformed by gov’t &/or whiteness." He continued, "You never demand "balance" or "all sides" represented when vilifying blackness before, during or after killing those wearing it." (Photo: Jesse Williams via Instagram)
7 / 11
On White Conservative Pundits - “I don’t check for Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly or any of these demons on the right,” Williams said. “They don’t wake me up in the morning, I don’t care about them and they certainly don’t drive the conversations I’m thinking about, but they do have an audience and they do lie all day, everyday about disenfranchised people.” (Photo: Gabe Ginsberg/BET)
Photo By Photo: Gabe Ginsberg/BET/Getty Images for BET
8 / 11
On the Threat of Whiteness - "Blackness has never been a threat to whiteness. Whiteness has always actively threatened blackness," he tweeted. "This is not a matter of opinion." (Photo: Tiffany Rose/WireImage)
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On the Roots of Racism in the Media and Educational System - "If you don't live around Black folks and you just watch TV, you're going to be racist," Williams said in a spontaneous street interview. "You and the media and a fake a** history system that makes you believe that White people created any of this makes you think that Black people ain't worth a damn." (Photo: Jesse Williams via Twitter)
10 / 11
On Sandra Bland - “WE DO NOT BEGIN AS POLICE PROPERTY, to be freed or detained based on some guy’s mood or feeling,” he wrote in a Twitter essay following the death of Bland. “We are not theirs.” (Photo: Angela Weiss/Getty Images)