You know what's really interesting about

what's happening in America right now

is that a lot of people don't seem to realize

how dominoes connect,

how one piece knocks another piece that knocks another piece

and in the end creates a giant wave.

Each story seems completely unrelated

and yet at the same time,

I feel like everything that happens in the world

connects to something else in some way, shape, or form.

And I think this news cycle that we witnessed

in the last week was a perfect example of that.

Amy Cooper, George Floyd, and the people of Minneapolis.

Amy Cooper was, for many people I think, the catalyst,

and by the way I should mention that all of this is like

against the backdrop of coronavirus, you know?

People stuck in their houses for one of

the longest periods we can remember,

people losing more jobs than anyone can ever remember.

People struggling to make do

more than they can ever remember,

and I think all of that compounded by the fact

that there seems to be no genuine plan from leadership.

Like, no one knows what's gonna happen.

You know, no one knows how long they're supposed to be good,

how long they're supposed to stay inside,

how long they supposed to flatten the curve.

No one knows any of these things.

And so what happens is you have

a group of people who are stuck inside,

all of us, our society, we're stuck inside.

And we then start to consume,

we see what's happening in the world

and I think Amy Cooper was one of the first

moments that, you know, one of the first dominoes

that we saw get knocked down post-corona for many people.

And that was a world where you quickly realized that,

while everyone is facing the battle against coronavirus,

black people in America are still facing

the battle against racism and coronavirus.

And the reason I say it's a domino is because,

think about how many black Americans just

have read and seen the news of how black people

are disproportionately affected by coronavirus,

and not because of something inherently inside black people,

but rather because

of

the lives black people have lived in America for so long.

You know, coronavirus exposed all of it.

And now here you have this woman who,

we've all seen the video now.

Blatantly,

blatantly knew how to use the power of,

of her whiteness to threaten the life

of another man and his blackness.

What we saw with her was a really, really powerful,

explicit example of an understanding of racism

in a structural way.

When she looked, when she looked at that man,

when she looked at Cooper and she said to him,

"I'm gonna call 911 and I'm gonna tell them

"there's an African-American man threatening my life."

She knew how powerful that was.

And that in itself is telling, you know?

It tells you how she perceives the police.

It tells you how she perceives her perception

or her relationship with the police as a white woman.

It shows you how she perceives

a black man's relationship with the police

and the police's relationship with him.

It's, it was, it was really, it was, it was,

it was powerful.

'Cause so many people act like they don't know what,

what black Americans are talking about when they say it,

and yet Amy Cooper had a distinct understanding.

She was like, "Oh, I know.

"I know that you're afraid of interacting with the police,

"because there is a presumption of your guilt

"because of your blackness.

"I know that, as a white woman,

"I can weaponize this tool against you,

"and I know that by the time we've sifted through

"who was right or wrong,

"there's a good chance that you will have lost

"in some way, shape, or form."

And so, for me, that was the first domino.

And so now you're living in a world

where so many people are watching this video.

So many people are being triggered,

because in many ways it was like a, it was like a gotcha.

You know?

It was like a, it was like the curtain had been pulled back,

aha, so you do this.

'Cause it's always been spoken about, but this was like,

it was powerful to see it being used.

And I think a lot of people were triggered by that,

a lot of people were like, "Damn.

"We knew it was real, but this is like real, real."

You know?

I think a lot of people were so angry that

some of the outrage that came to her was because of her dog.

And I mean, I get it, you know?

But it was, it was,

a lot of people felt like,

a lot of people felt like it would have been great

if the dog shelters had the same, I guess, power

or if police departments were run by the people

who run dog shelters because they seem to act like this,

they didn't waste time.

They were like, "Nope, we'd like our dog back, lady."

Which, I'm gonna be honest, I think was, that's was a,

that was a, I mean, that was a hell of a punishment.

Her job is one thing, taking a white lady's dog.

That was a nice dog.

Yeah, so that was the first domino, you know?

It was the first domino where

I felt like you could feel something stirring.

And all of this, again, is in the backdrop, backdrop.

It's, it's coronavirus has happened.

The numbers have come out.

You know, the story of Ahmad Aubery in Georgia,

that story has come up, all of these things are happening.

And then the video of George Floyd comes out,

and I don't know what made that video more painful

for people to watch, the fact that

that man was having his life taken in front of our eyes,

the fact that we were watching someone being murdered

by someone whose job is to protect and serve,

or the fact that he seemed so calm doing it, you know?

Oftentimes we're always told

that police feared for their life,

it was like a threatened, and you know what?

You always feel like an asshole when, when you're like,

"You didn't fear for your life.

"How, why did you fear for your life?

"How did you fear?"

But now more and more we're starting to see that it's like,

no, it doesn't seem like there's a fear,

it just seems like it's, you can do it so you did it.

There was a black man on the ground in handcuffs,

and you, you could take his life, so you did.

Almost knowing that there would be no ramifications.

And then again, everyone on the internet has to watch this,

everyone sees it, it floods our timelines as people.

And,

and I think,

one ray of sunshine for me in that moment

was seeing how many people

instantly condemned what they saw.

You know?

And maybe it's because I'm an optimistic person,

but I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

Especially not in America,

I haven't seen a police video come out

and just see across the board.

I mean, even Fox News commentators and,

and police chiefs from around the country

immediately condemning what they saw.

No questions, not what was he doing, not just going, no,

this, what happened here was wrong.

It was wrong.

This person got murdered on camera.

And then the police were fired, great.

But I, I think what people take for granted is, is,

is how much, for so many people,

that feels like nothing, you know?

How many of us, as human beings,

can take the life of another human being

and then have firing be the worst thing that happens to us?

And yes, we don't know where the case will go,

don't get me wrong, but it just, it's,

it feels like there is no moment of justice,

there is no, you know, if you're watching a movie,

you at least want the cops,

you'd want to see the perpetrators in handcuffs.

You want to see the perpetrators

facing some sort of justice.

Yes, they might come out on bail, et cetera,

but I think there's a lot of catharsis that comes with

seeing that justice being doled out.

When the riots happened,

that for me was an interesting culmination of everything.

I saw so many people online saying,

"These riots are disgusting,

"this is not how a society should be run.

"You do not loot and you do not burn and you do not,

"this is not how our society is built."

And that actually triggered something in me

where I was like, man, okay.

Society, but what is society?

And fundamentally, when you boil it down,

society is a contract.

It's a contract that we sign as human beings

amongst each other.

We sign a contract with each other as people

whether it's spoken or unspoken and we say,

"Amongst this group of us, we agree in common rules,

"common ideals and common practices

"that are going to define us as a group."

That's what I think a society is, it's a contract.

And, as with most contracts, the contract is only as strong

as the people who are abiding by it.

But if you think of being a black person in America

who is living in Minneapolis or Minnesota

or any place where you're not having a good time,

ask yourself this question when you watch those people:

What vested interest do they have

in maintaining the contract?

Why, like, why don't we all loot?

Why, why don't, why doesn't everybody take,

why doesn't, because we've agreed on things.

There are so many people who are starving out there,

there are so many people who don't have,

there's so many people.

There are people who are destitute,

there are people who, when the virus hit,

and they don't have a second paycheck, are already broke,

which is insane, but that's the reality.

But still, think about how many people

who don't have, the have-nots.

Say, "You know what?

"I'm still gonna play by the rules,

"even though I have nothing

"because I still wish for the society to work and exist."

And then, some members of that society,

namely black American people, watch time and time again

how the contract that they have signed with society

is not being honored by the society

that has forced them to sign it with them.

When you watch Ahmad Aubery being shot

and you hear that those men have been released

and, were it not for the video and the outrage,

those people would be living their lives,

what part of the contract is that in society?

When you see George Floyd on the ground

and you see a man losing his life

in a way that no person should ever have to lose their life

at the hands of someone who is supposed to enforce the law,

what part of the contract is that?

And a lot of people say, well, what good does this do?

Yeah, but what good doesn't it do?

That's the question people don't ask the other way around.

What good does it do to loot Target?

What does it, how does it help you to loot Target?

Yeah, but how does it help you to not loot Target?

Answer that question.

Because the only reason you didn't loot Target before

was because you were upholding society's contract.

There is no contract if law and people in power

don't uphold their end of it.

And that's the thing I think

people don't understand sometimes is that,

is that we need people at the top