0:00:01.517,0:00:05.373 So I wanna talk for a minute [br]about human beings and about riots. 0:00:05.373,0:00:08.511 This past Monday night [br]while we were all sitting there 0:00:08.511,0:00:11.192 waiting for that blow that we all knew was coming, 0:00:11.192,0:00:14.008 and hoping that we might be wrong[br]just this one time, 0:00:14.008,0:00:18.536 I said on Twitter that the fundamental danger[br]of a non-indictment is not more riots, 0:00:18.536,0:00:20.611 it is more Darren Wilsons. 0:00:20.611,0:00:22.920 And that thought struck a chord with a lot of people. 0:00:22.920,0:00:25.975 It was linked to more than any tweet I've ever made. 0:00:25.975,0:00:29.337 But later on that night,[br]we saw some things happen in Ferguson. 0:00:29.337,0:00:32.749 We saw some unrest,[br]we saw things that you could call riots; 0:00:32.749,0:00:33.918 and when that happened, 0:00:33.918,0:00:36.448 a bunch of other people on Twitter[br]were delighted by the idea 0:00:36.448,0:00:41.688 that that heartache and grief and rage[br]gave them a social media gotcha moment. 0:00:41.688,0:00:45.418 "So who's the real danger now,[br]mister social justice warrior?" 0:00:45.418,0:00:48.837 "Ya see all those thugs out there?[br]You see how you people act?" 0:00:48.837,0:00:50.194 "What do you have to say now??" 0:00:50.194,0:00:52.024 Well, here's what I think now: 0:00:52.024,0:00:54.819 I believe what I said,[br]now more than ever. 0:00:54.819,0:00:57.777 And if you think what happened on Monday [br]disproves what I said, 0:00:57.777,0:01:00.362 you didn't understand what I was talking about. 0:01:00.362,0:01:02.942 I wasn't happy at all about what[br]happened Monday night. 0:01:02.942,0:01:04.861 I hate to see people pushed that far. 0:01:04.861,0:01:08.023 I hate to see people's community [br]family businesses destroyed. 0:01:08.023,0:01:09.188 I hated seeing that. 0:01:09.188,0:01:11.937 But I'm also clear that if you ask me [br]to weigh one against the other, 0:01:11.937,0:01:15.994 we are weighing the destruction of property[br]against the loss of a life. 0:01:15.994,0:01:20.071 And if you value some people's property [br]more than the life of a black child, 0:01:20.071,0:01:22.284 we're not on the same team. 0:01:22.284,0:01:26.001 And regardless of that, for us to even[br]discuss caring about one or the other 0:01:26.001,0:01:29.310 is presenting a false choice because[br]they're not in opposition to each other. 0:01:29.310,0:01:32.195 One is a byproduct of the other. 0:01:32.195,0:01:37.278 That unrest we saw Monday night was a byproduct[br]of the injustice that preceded it. 0:01:37.278,0:01:40.758 This is not a choice, [br]this is a cause-and-effect relationship. 0:01:40.758,0:01:44.995 If you're worried about the effects,[br]you need to be thinking about the cause. 0:01:44.995,0:01:49.826 Riots are a thing that human beings do[br]because human beings have limits. 0:01:49.826,0:01:51.634 We don't all have the same limits. 0:01:51.634,0:01:55.974 For some of us our human limit is when [br]our favorite team loses the game. 0:01:55.974,0:01:58.858 For some of us it's when [br]our favorite team wins a game. 0:01:58.858,0:02:01.905 The people Ferguson had a different limit than that. 0:02:01.905,0:02:07.367 For the people of Ferguson a lifetime of neglect [br]and facto segregation and incompetence 0:02:07.367,0:02:08.946 and mistreatment [br]by every level of government 0:02:08.946,0:02:10.286 was not their limit. 0:02:10.286,0:02:12.234 When that malign neglect set the stage 0:02:12.234,0:02:17.204 for one of their children to be shot down [br]and left in the street like a piece of trash, 0:02:17.204,0:02:19.112 that was not their limit. 0:02:19.112,0:02:24.406 For the people of Ferguson spending 100 days[br]almost entirely peacefully protesting 0:02:24.406,0:02:26.672 for some measure of justice for that child, 0:02:26.672,0:02:30.947 and having their desire for justice [br]treated like a joke by every local authority, 0:02:30.947,0:02:32.115 was not their limit. 0:02:32.115,0:02:34.262 And then after those 100 days, 0:02:34.262,0:02:37.117 when the so-called prosecutor [br]waited until the dead of night 0:02:37.117,0:02:39.700 to come out and twist that knife one last time, 0:02:39.700,0:02:43.694 when he came out and confirmed once and for all [br]that Michael Brown's life didn't matter, 0:02:43.694,0:02:47.532 only then did the people of Ferguson reach their limit. 0:02:47.532,0:02:51.462 So when you look at what happened Monday night [br]the question you should be asking is 0:02:51.462,0:02:56.807 how did these human beings last that long [br]before they reached their human limit? 0:02:56.807,0:03:00.938 How do black people in America [br]retain such a deep well of humanity 0:03:00.938,0:03:05.974 that they can be pushed so far again and again [br]without reaching their human limit? 0:03:05.974,0:03:08.396 How do we keep going through this same cycle? 0:03:08.396,0:03:10.721 Because that's the thing: it's not just these 100 days. 0:03:10.721,0:03:14.687 It's the 100 times this cycle played out [br]before Michael Brown. 0:03:14.687,0:03:19.437 The thing about that tweet I sent out Monday night?[br]That tweet wasn't really from Monday night. 0:03:19.437,0:03:24.666 I made the exact same tweet [br]a year and a half ago about Trayvon Martin 0:03:24.666,0:03:28.557 The exact same tweet word-for-word.[br]All I did was switch out the name. 0:03:28.557,0:03:29.749 And that's how sick, 0:03:29.749,0:03:34.977 that's how predictable and sick this white [br]supremacy Groundhog's Day is that we live in. 0:03:34.977,0:03:39.843 You can literally word-for-word have [br]the exact same conversation year after year, 0:03:39.843,0:03:42.952 and just switch out the name [br]of the black child we lost. 0:03:42.952,0:03:45.982 There is nothing more exhausting [br]or more inhumane 0:03:45.982,0:03:50.291 than black america's eternal cycle [br]of being shocked but not surprised. 0:03:50.291,0:03:53.778 When you have to go through your whole life [br]with all your muscles tensed, 0:03:53.778,0:03:56.614 waiting for the same blow [br]to come again and again, 0:03:56.614,0:04:01.845 knowing it will hurt a bit more each time [br]precisely because you always know it's coming. 0:04:01.845,0:04:04.975 And then you have to teach your children [br]how to go through the same cycle, 0:04:04.975,0:04:07.470 that's the definition of torture. 0:04:07.470,0:04:10.480 Those are not fit living conditions [br]for a human being. 0:04:10.480,0:04:14.818 So when I see President Obama say he [br]has no sympathy for people who destroy a car, 0:04:14.818,0:04:17.555 I'm sorry but I do have sympathy for them. 0:04:17.555,0:04:21.282 I'm not happy to see them doing it[br]but human beings have limits. 0:04:21.282,0:04:25.614 When I watched that footage of Michael Brown's [br]mother out there crushed and heartbroken, 0:04:25.614,0:04:28.948 and I see her family talk about [br]burning this thing down, 0:04:28.948,0:04:30.237 I'm not happy to see that, 0:04:30.237,0:04:33.114 but I don't think we should be [br]making excuses for that. 0:04:33.114,0:04:34.975 I don't think we should be explaining that away. 0:04:34.975,0:04:36.864 I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of. 0:04:36.864,0:04:38.003 That is real life. 0:04:38.003,0:04:41.197 That is what happens when you [br]treat human beings this way. 0:04:41.197,0:04:43.414 So if you hated what you saw on Monday night, 0:04:43.414,0:04:46.691 if you hated seeing those human beings [br]pushed past their limit, 0:04:46.691,0:04:48.554 you need to do something 0:04:48.554,0:04:52.612 about the government and the justice system [br]and the institutions of policing 0:04:52.612,0:04:54.773 that do not treat them like human beings. 0:04:54.773,0:04:58.024 If you watch the news Monday night [br]and didn't like the effects, 0:04:58.024,0:05:00.690 you need to do something about the cause. 0:05:00.690,0:05:05.326 You, I, we need to go out there [br]and make this country into a place 0:05:05.326,0:05:09.326 where black lives matter.