Essay Sample on Jesse Williams: BET Humanitarian Award Winner & Social Critic

Introduction

Human rights activist and actor Jesse Williams was recently awarded with BET's Humanitarian Award after he produced the recent documentary, Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement (Lasher, 2016). The documentary articulated the growing police brutality against African Americans and struggles the African Americans have endured through the entire American history (Lasher, 2016). The essay will provide the social commentary of Jesse William's argument on the current police vehemece leveled against the African American societies.

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Jesse in his speech talks about police brutality of the black people. He used a fatal police shooting of a Cleveland boy to explain the kind of brutality that black people experience (Butler & Izadi, 2016). Police is a public servant who is paid to protect the lives of all people that it seems in the US rights are unconditional. Police brutality institutionalizes racism, a disease that affects African Americans in the country. Jesse says that it is the Black Matter Movement that can help to address the injustices that blacks experience (Butler & Izadi, 2016). In the same parallel, he says that there are people who claim to be involved in the movement but do not have interests for the brutalized; they have no right to make suggestions on ending discrimination and police shootings. It is the brutalized who understands the effects of the injustices. Bullying black people while gentrifying their genius, just because they are black does not mean they are not real.

Another argument of Jesse Williams's speech is that every citizen in the US has rights and freedoms (Butler & Izadi, 2016). He talks about police violence towards black people. The whites have a racial prejudice towards African Americans in that they believe that freedom of rights should be conditional. Jesse in his speech asserted that there is a need for equal rights in the country. He further adds that freedom should be unconditional since the United States is a country of everyone, therefore, everybody should be free. Unfortunately, there is high inequality in the US and this undermines many opportunities and also restricts freedom of the black people. Jesse also talks about black women who are at many times ignored by mainstream spaces (Butler & Izadi, 2016). He says that it is the black women who nurtured the young African Americans and he promises to do better for them.

The majority of black households in the country deal with lingering struggle marked by efficient cruelty. African Americans are often encouraged to demonstrate grit, despite the harsh conditions in which they reside (Anderson, 2019). The idea of rethinking resilience provides an analysis of social commentary from family therapists, and consultants to think disparagingly concerning how the factor of togetherness, and resilience may help them to defeat the yokes of oppression, and discrimination leveled at African Americans. This notion relates to the viral speech made by Jesse Williams on some recent black victims of police brutality, and the manipulation of Black values through entertainment, and the media (Anderson, 2019).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jesse Williams is a celebrated actor and human rights activists who were recently awarded with BET's Humanitarian Award after he produced the latest documentary, Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement. His documentary provides visual analysis of modern violence, police brutality that has impacted the contemporary African American societies. The documentary also provides another avenue for Williams to strengthen the Black Lives Matter Movement as a local activist organization trying to fight for equality, and justice for black communities living in the US (Gooley, 2019).

References

Anderson, L. A. (2019). Rethinking Resilience Theory in African American Families: Fostering Positive Adaptations and Transformative Social Justice. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 11(3), 385-397. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/RethinkingResilienceTheory.pdf

Gooley, A. (2019). Playing with Epideictic Narratives. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/37904524/Playing_with_Epideitic_Narratives

Lasher, M. (2016). Read the full transcript of Jesse Williams' powerful speech on race at the BET awards. Retrieved from https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/