WEBVTT

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You can ask anyone you want

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and they will tell you

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that they are sick and tired
of fighting for justice.

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People of color and members
of the LGBT community are tired

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of carrying the burden of speaking up

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and stepping up

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even when they're being silenced

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and pushed back down.

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And white allies

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and cis allies are tired too.

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Tired of being told they're doing it wrong

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or that it isn't even their place
to show up at all.

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This fatigue is impacting all of us.

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And in fact,

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I believe we won't succeed

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until we approach justice in a new way.

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I grew up in the middle
of the Civil Rights Movement

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in the segregated South.

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As a five-year-old girl,

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I was very interested in ballet.

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It seemed to be the five-year-old-girl
thing to do in the 1960s.

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My mother took me to a ballet school.

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You know, the kind of school
that had teachers

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that talked about your gifts and talents

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knowing that you'd never be a ballerina.

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(Laughter)

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When we arrived,

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they said nicely that they
"did not accept negroes."

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We got back in the car as if we were
just leaving a grocery store

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that was out of orange juice.

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We said nothing ...

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just drove to the next ballet school.

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They said, "We don't accept negroes."

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Well, I was confused.

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And I asked my mother
why they didn't want me.

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And she said, "Well, they're just not
smart enough to accept you right now

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and they don't know
how excellent you are."

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(Cheers)

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(Applause and cheers)

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Well, I didn't know what that meant.

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(Laughter)

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But I was sure it wasn't good

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because I could see it
in my mother's eyes.

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She was angry

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and it looked like she was
on the verge of tears.

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Well, I decided right then and right there

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that ballet was dumb.

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(Laughter)

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You know, I had lots of experiences
like that along the way,

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but as I got older,

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I started to get angry.

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And not just angry at the outright
racism and injustice.

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I was angry at people that stood by
and didn't say anything.

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Like, why didn't the white parents
in that ballet school say

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"Uh, that's wrong.

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Let that little girl dance."

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Or why --

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(Applause)

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Why didn't the white patrons
in the segregated restaurants say

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"Hey, that's not right.

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Let that family eat."

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Well, it didn't take me long to realize

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that racial injustice
wasn't the only place

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that people in the majority
were staying quiet.

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When I'd sit in church and hear
some homophobic comment

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being disguised as something scriptural,

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I'd say, "I'm sorry,

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why aren't the heterosexual
churchgoers disrupting this nonsense?"

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(Applause)

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Or ...

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in a room filled with boomers and Gen-Xers

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who started degrading their millennial
colleagues as being spoiled, lazy

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and overconfident,

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I'd say,

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"I'm sorry,

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why isn't someone my age
saying 'stop stereotyping?'"

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(Audience) Yes!

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(Applause)

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I was used to standing up
on issues like this,

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but why wasn't everyone else?

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My fifth grade teacher,

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Mrs. McFarland,

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taught me that justice
requires an accomplice.

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Not just anyone will do.

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She said we need unlikely allies

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if we want to see real change happen.

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And for those of us experiencing
injustice up front,

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we need to be willing to accept the help,

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because when we don't,

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change takes too long.

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I mean, imagine if heterosexual
and gay people had not come together

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under the banner of marriage equality.

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Or what if President Kennedy

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just wasn't interested
in the civil rights movement?

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Most of our major movements
in this country might have been delayed

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or even dead

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if it weren't for the presence
of unlikely allies.

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When the same people speak up

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in the same ways they've always spoken up,

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the most we'll ever get
are the same results

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over and over again.

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You know, allies often
stand on the sidelines

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waiting to be called up.

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But what if unlikely allies
led out in front of issues?

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Like ...

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what if Black and Native American people
stood in front of immigration issues?

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(Applause)

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Or what if white people led the charge

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to end racism?

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(Applause and cheers)

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Or ...

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what if men led the charge
on pay equity for women?

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(Applause and cheers)

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Or ...

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what if heterosexual people
stood in front of LGBTQ issues?

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(Applause and cheers)

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And what if able-bodied people advocated

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for people living with disabilities?

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(Applause and cheers)

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You know, we can stand up for issues,

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weigh in and advocate

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even when it seems like the issue
has nothing to do with us.

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And actually,

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those are the issues
that are most compelling.

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And sure,

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people will have no idea
why you are there,

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but that's why those of us
facing injustice

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must be willing to accept the help.

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You know, we have to fight injustice

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with a consciousness of grace.

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When white guys stand up to fight

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for the liberation
of Black and Brown people,

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Black and Brown people will have to be
willing to accept their help.

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And I know that's complicated,

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but this is collective work

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and it requires everyone to be all in.

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One day when I was at kindergarten,

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our teacher introduced us

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to this beautiful, tall,
white lady named Miss Ann.

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I thought she was the prettiest
white lady I'd ever seen.

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Well if I can be honest with you,

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I think it was the first time we'd ever
seen a white lady in our school ever.

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(Laughter)

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Miss Ann stood in front of us

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and she said she was going
to start teaching ballet classes

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right there are our school,

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and that she was proud
to be our dance teacher.

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It was unreal.

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All of a sudden --

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(singing)

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I didn't think ballet was dumb anymore.

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(Laughter)

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You see, what I know now
is Miss Ann was fully aware

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that the white ballet schools
would not accept Black girls.

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She was incensed by that.

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So she came to the Black neighborhood

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to start teaching
the dance classes herself.

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And you know it took love
and courage for her to do that.

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(Applause)

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And where there was no justice,

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she just built it.

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We all survived

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because we stood on the shoulders
of our Black ancestors.

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We all thrived because
Miss Ann was an unlikely ally.

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You know, when you add your voice

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and your actions

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to situations that you
don't think involve you,

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you actually inspire
others to do the same.

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Miss Ann inspired me
to always be on the lookout

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for situations that weren't about me

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but where I saw injustice

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and inequality happening anyway.

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I hope she inspires you too,

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because to win the fight for equity

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we will all need to speak up

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and stand up.

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We will all need to do that.

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And we will all need to do that

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even when it's hard

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and even when we feel out of place,

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because it is your place,

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and it is our place.

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Justice counts on all of us.

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Thank you.

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(Applause and cheers)