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  • Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

  • You can ask anyone you want,

  • and they will tell you

  • that they are sick and tired of fighting for justice.

  • People of color and members of the LGBT community are tired

  • of carrying the burden of speaking up

  • and stepping up

  • even when they're being silenced

  • and pushed back down.

  • And white allies

  • and cis allies are tired, too.

  • Tired of being told they're doing it wrong

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

  • This fatigue is impacting all of us.

  • And in fact,

  • I believe we won't succeed

  • until we approach justice in a new way.

  • I grew up in the middle of the civil rights movement

  • in the segregated South.

  • As a five-year-old girl,

  • I was very interested in ballet.

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

  • My mother took me to a ballet school.

  • You know, the kind of school that had teachers

  • that talked about your gifts and talents

  • knowing that you'd never be a ballerina.

  • (Laughter)

  • When we arrived,

  • they said nicely that they "did not accept Negroes."

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

  • that was out of orange juice.

  • We said nothing ...

  • just drove to the next ballet school.

  • They said, "We don't accept Negroes."

  • Well, I was confused.

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

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

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

  • (Cheers)

  • (Applause and cheers)

  • Well, I didn't know what that meant.

  • (Laughter)

  • But I was sure it wasn't good,

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

  • She was angry,

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

  • Well, I decided right then and right there

  • that ballet was dumb.

  • (Laughter)

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

  • but as I got older,

  • I started to get angry.

  • And not just angry at the outright racism and injustice.

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

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

  • "Uh, that's wrong.

  • Let that little girl dance."

  • Or why --

  • (Applause)

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

  • "Hey, that's not right.

  • Let that family eat."

  • Well, it didn't take me long to realize

  • that racial injustice wasn't the only place

  • that people in the majority were staying quiet.

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

  • being disguised as something scriptural,

  • I'd say, "I'm sorry,

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

  • (Applause)

  • Or ...

  • in a room filled with boomers and Gen-Xers

  • who started degrading their millennial colleagues

  • as being spoiled, lazy and overconfident,

  • I'd say, "I'm sorry,

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

  • (Audience) Yes!

  • (Applause)

  • I was used to standing up on issues like this,

  • but why wasn't everyone else?

  • My fifth grade teacher,

  • Mrs. McFarland,

  • taught me that justice requires an accomplice.

  • Not just anyone will do.

  • She said we need unlikely allies

  • if we want to see real change happen.

  • And for those of us experiencing injustice up front,

  • we need to be willing to accept the help,

  • because when we don't,

  • change takes too long.

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

  • under the banner of marriage equality.

  • Or what if President Kennedy

  • just wasn't interested in the civil rights movement?

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

  • or even dead

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

  • When the same people speak up

  • in the same ways they've always spoken up,

  • the most we'll ever get are the same results

  • over and over again.

  • You know, allies often stand on the sidelines

  • waiting to be called up.

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

  • Like ...

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

  • (Applause)

  • Or what if white people led the charge

  • to end racism?

  • (Applause and cheers)

  • Or ...

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

  • (Applause and cheers)

  • Or ...

  • what if heterosexual people stood in front of LGBTQ issues?

  • (Applause and cheers)

  • And what if able-bodied people advocated

  • for people living with disabilities?

  • (Applause and cheers)

  • You know, we can stand up for issues,

  • weigh in and advocate

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

  • And actually,

  • those are the issues that are most compelling.

  • And sure,

  • people will have no idea why you are there,

  • but that's why those of us facing injustice

  • must be willing to accept the help.

  • You know, we have to fight injustice

  • with a consciousness of grace.

  • When white guys stand up to fight

  • for the liberation of Black and Brown people,

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

  • And I know that's complicated,

  • but this is collective work

  • and it requires everyone to be all in.

  • One day when I was at kindergarten,

  • our teacher introduced us

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

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

  • Well, if I can be honest with you,

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

  • (Laughter)

  • Miss Ann stood in front of us,

  • and she said she was going to start teaching ballet classes

  • right there are our school

  • and that she was proud to be our dance teacher.

  • It was unreal.

  • All of a sudden --

  • (sings) I didn't think ballet was dumb anymore.

  • (Laughter)

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

  • that the white ballet schools would not accept Black girls.

  • She was incensed by that.

  • So she came to the Black neighborhood

  • to start teaching the dance classes herself.

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

  • (Applause)

  • And where there was no justice,

  • she just built it.

  • We all survived,

  • because we stood on the shoulders of our Black ancestors.

  • We all thrived, because Miss Ann was an unlikely ally.

  • You know, when you add your voice

  • and your actions

  • to situations that you don't think involve you,

  • you actually inspire others to do the same.

  • Miss Ann inspired me to always be on the lookout

  • for situations that weren't about me

  • but where I saw injustice

  • and inequality happening anyway.

  • I hope she inspires you, too,

  • because to win the fight for equity

  • we will all need to speak up

  • and stand up.