Jesse Williams is the definition of the expression: “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”.
On the surface, he’s the famous face of Grey’s Anatomy – a borderline soap opera taking place in a Seattle hospital. His quotes, however, highlight the mind of a serious activist obscured by the handsome face.
His beliefs and work on social justice issues can be seen in his many tweets, his work with the Advancement Project and the Black Lives Matter documentary he recently produced.
This Sunday, upon receiving the Humanitarian Award at the 16th Annual BET Awards, he delivered a powerful acceptance speech that is now setting the social media world on fire.
In addition to that acceptance speech, we’ve compiled some of his most memorable quotes on politics, race, America and the Black Lives Matter movement, to help you stay woke.
The Best Jesse Williams Quotes on Politics and Race in America
From the BET Speech:
On Parents:
I just want to say I brought my parents out tonight. I just want to thank them for being here, for teaching me to focus on comprehension over career, and that they make sure I learn what the schools were afraid to teach us. – Jesse Williams
On the real Hero’s:
Now, this award – this is not for me. This is for the real organizers all over the country – the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do. – Jesse Williams
On History:
It’s kind of basic mathematics – the more we learn about who we are and how we got here, the more we will mobilize. – Jesse Williams
On policing by race:
Now, what we’ve been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to deescalate, disarm and not kill white people everyday. So what’s going to happen is we are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours. – Jesse Williams
On Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice and others:
Yesterday would have been young Tamir Rice’s 14th birthday so I don’t want to hear anymore about how far we’ve come when paid public servants can pull a drive-by on 12 year old playing alone in the park in broad daylight, killing him on television and then going home to make a sandwich. Tell Rekia Boyd how it’s so much better than it is to live in 2012 than it is to live in 1612 or 1712. Tell that to Eric Garner. Tell that toSandra Bland. Tell that to Dorian Hunt. – Jesse Williams
On what can be done:
Now the thing is, though, all of us in here getting money – that alone isn’t gonna stop this. Alright, now dedicating our lives, dedicating our lives to getting money just to give it right back for someone’s brand on our body when we spent centuries praying with brands on our bodies, and now we pray to get paid for brands on our bodies. – Jesse Williams
On the contributions of blacks:
There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There is no tax they haven’t leveed against us – and we’ve paid all of them. But freedom is somehow always conditional here. “You’re free,” they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn’t acted so… free. – Jesse Williams
On freedom:
Now, freedom is always coming in the hereafter, but you know what, though, the hereafter is a hustle. We want it now. – Jesse Williams
On criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement:
The burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. That’s not our job, alright – stop with all that. If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression. If you have no interest, if you have no interest in equal rights for black people then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down. – Jesse Williams
On the difficult history of Blacks in America:
We’ve been floating this country on credit for centuries, yo, and we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil – black gold, ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. The thing is though… the thing is that just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real. – Jesse Williams
On Black Women
Now, this is also in particular for the black women in particular who have spent their lifetimes dedicated to nurturing everyone before themselves. We can and will do better for you. – Jesse Williams
On The History of Whiteness:
Blackness has never been a threat to whiteness. Whiteness has always actively threatened blackness. This is not a matter of opinion.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 28, 2014
On Martin Luther King as part of #reclaimmlk:
He wore a suit, had a doctorate, no tattoos or gold & far more articulate than those pretending any of that makes us more or less human.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) January 19, 2015
On how MLK connects to the BLM:
His principled, uncompromising voice told the world that Black lives are in fact lives & therefore they matter. Then he was ridiculed for it
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) January 19, 2015
On the double standard of “resisting unlawful arrest”:
3 This country is FULL of Americans who actively exercise their rights when given unlawful, unclear orders by police.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
6 Without fail, when select Americans excercise their rights, message boards FILL w praise for the resisting citizen & mockery of police.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
8 A select segment of Americans are granted the privilege of being able to resist said tyranny, scream at it, punch, shove or elude it.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
9 For membership consideration, this club has ONE requirement: the citizen(s) resisting police/the law/status quo must be white.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
On Racism:
You need not carry the heavy, hollow burden of racism any longer. Leave it behind. Be for something, and not because it's easy.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 28, 2014
On equal rights:
If you don't actually care about Black people having equal protection under the law, why are you making suggestions to those who do?
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) April 28, 2015
On the Baltimore Riots:
What are the critical elements that constitute a "riot" and when do riots offend you?
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) April 28, 2015
Whites rioted throughout the early 1900s, slaughtering, burning & looting entire thriving black townships, just because of the adjective.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) April 28, 2015
On Blackness:
Blackness is like the big screen, it adds 10-100lbs, a gun and a carefully crafted script seen only through the eyes of the white hero.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) November 26, 2014
On Policing in America:
If an entire police dept doesn't trust the [legal] system they are sworn to support. How can those under it's boot & gun be expected to?
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 28, 2014
On racist Halloween costumes:
When #Halloween comes around, how exactly does dressing as Trayvon and other illustrations of black pain, make you feel? Please be specific.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 28, 2014
On Marriage:
It was very important to me to be with a woman who is better than me at some things. You want someone who brings new, interesting things into your life. – Jesse Williams
On Ebola:
#GenuineQuestion: How exactly is Ebola funny? If the 4,000 dead were American or blond, would that be a joke?
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 11, 2014
On Sandra Bland:
19 #SandraBland's treatment while attempting to travel freely on HER public roadways has been acknowledged as unlawful. She is already dead.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
On Diversity:
We often grow up being told that we can do this or that, but if you don’t see anybody that looks like you doing it, you don’t believe you can do it. But I had great teachers, and I wanted to be a great teacher. – Jesse Williams
On Cultural Appropriation:
Millions of you smile in awe of our music, comedy, inventions, athletics, fashion, etc. but when we're not entertaining you, you hate us?
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) October 28, 2014
On Being Bi-racial in Hollywood:
I’m kind of in a middle space, being marketed as a biracial actor. Roles are written either stereotypically black, or they’re written ‘normal,’ which is just code for white. – Jesse Williams
On Taking Credit:
I like to take credit for the work that I have done. – Jesse Williams
On Comedians:
I’m always trying to find the next comedian that just gives me something a little funny to combine with all of the depressing news that I’m processing. – Jesse Williams
