How Can We Win

>> So, I've been seeing a lot of things,
talking to other people, making commentary.

Interestingly enough, the ones I've noticed

that have been making the commentary are
wealthy black people making the commentary

about you should not be rioting,
you should not be looting,

you should not be tearing
up our own communities.

And then there's been an argument of the other
side of we should be hitting them in the pocket.

We should be focusing on the black
out days where we don't spend money.

But, you know, I feel like we should do both.

And I feel like I support both.

And I'll tell you why I support both.

I support both because there -- when
you have a civil unrest like this,

there are three type of people in the streets.

There are the protestors, there are
the rioters, and there are the looters.

The protestors are there because they actually
care about what is happening in the community,

they want to raise their voices, and
they are there strictly to protest.

You have the rioters who are angry, who
are anarchists, who really just want

to fuck shit up, and that's what
they're going to do regardless.

And then you have the looters, and the
looters almost exclusively are just there

to do that -- to loot.

Now, people are like, "Well, what did you gain?

Well, what did you get from looting?"

I think that as long as we're focusing
on the what, we're not focusing

on the why, and that's my issue with that.

As long as we're focusing on what they're doing,
we're not focusing on why they're doing it.

And some people are like,
"Well, those aren't people

who are legitimately angry
about what's happening.

Those are people who just want to get stuff."

OK. Well, then, let's go with that.

Let's say that's what it is.

Let's ask ourselves why, in this country in
2020, the financial gap between poor blacks

and the rest of the world is at such a
distance that people feel like their only hope

and only opportunity to get some of the
things that we flaunt and flash in front

of them all the time is to walk through
a broken glass window and get it.

But they are so hopeless that getting that
necklace, getting that TV, getting that change,

getting that bed, getting that phone, whatever
it is that they're going to get is that in

that moment when the riots happen and
they present an opportunity of looting,

that's their only opportunity to get it.

We need to be questioning that why.

Why are people that poor?

Why are people that broke?

Why are people that food insecure, that clothing
insecure that they feel like their only shot,

that they are shooting their shot by walking

through a broken glass window
to get what they need?

And then people want to talk about, "Well,
there's plenty of people who pull themselves

up by their bootstraps and got it on their own.

Why can't they do that?"

Let me explain to you something about economics
in America, and I'm so glad that as a child,

I got an opportunity to spend time
at Push, where taught me this is

that we must never forget
that economics was the reason

that black people were brought to this country.

We came to do the agricultural work in the
South and the textile work in the North.

Do you understand that?

That's what we came to do.

We came to do the agricultural work in the
South and the textile work in the North.

Now, if I right now -- if I right now decided
that I wanted to play Monopoly with you

and for 400 rounds of playing Monopoly, I didn't
allow you to have any money, I didn't allow you

to have anything on the board, I
didn't allow for you to have anything.

And then we played another 50 rounds of
Monopoly, and everything that you gained,

and you earned while you were playing
that round of Monopoly was taken from you.

That was Tulsa.

That was Rosewood.

There are -- those are places where
we built black economic wealth,

where we were self-sufficient, where we owned
our stores, where we owned our property,

and they burned them to the ground.

So, that's 450 years.

So, for 400 rounds of Monopoly,
you don't get to play at all.

Not only do you not get to play,
you have to play on the behalf

of the person that you're playing against.

You have to play and make
money and earn wealth for them,

and then you have to turn it over to them.

So, then, for 50 years, you finally get
a little bit, and you're allowed to play.

And every time that they don't like the way
that you're playing or that you're catching up

or that you're doing something to be
self-sufficient, they burn your game.

They burn your cards.

They burn your Monopoly money.

And then finally, at the
release and the onset of that,

they allow you to play, and they say, "OK.

Now, you catch up."

Now, at this point, the only
way you're going to catch

up in the game is if the
person shares the wealth.

Correct? But what if every time you share the
wealth, then there's psychological warfare

against you to say, "Oh, you're
an Equal Opportunity hire."

So, if I played 400 rounds of Monopoly with
you and I had to play and give you every dime

that I made, and then for 50 years
every time that I played, I --

if you didn't like what I did, you
got to burn it like they did in Tulsa

and like they did in Rosewood, how can you win?

How can you win?

You can't win.

The game is fixed.

So, when they say, "Why do
you burn down the community?

Why do you burn down your own neighborhood?"

It's not ours!

We don't own anything!

We don't own anything!

There is -- Trevor Noah said
it so beautifully last night.

There's a social contract that we all
have that if you steal or if I steal,

then the person who is the authority
comes in, and they fix the situation.

But the person who fixes
the situation is killing us!

So, the social contract is broken.

And if the social contract is
broken, why the fuck do I give a shit

about burning the fucking Football Hall
of Fame, about burning a fucking Target?

You broke the contract when you killed
us in the streets and didn't give a fuck!

You broke the contract, and for 400 years,
we played your game and built your wealth.

You broke the contract when we built our
wealth again on our own by our bootstraps

in Tulsa, and you dropped bombs on us!

When we built it in Rosewood, and you came in
and you swatted us, you broke the contract!

So, fuck your Target.

Fuck your Hall of Farm.

As far as I'm concerned,
they can burn this bitch

to the ground, and it still wouldn't be enough.

And they are lucky that what black people
are looking for is equality and not revenge.