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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
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as being spoiled, lazy and overconfident,
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I'd say, "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
-
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,
-
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,
-
but this is collective work
-
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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(sings) 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)