“Peace. Peace. Thank you Debra. Thank you, Nate Parker. Thank you, Harry and Debbie Allen, for doing that. Before we get into it, I just want to say — I brought my parents — thank you for being here and for teaching me to focus on comprehension over career. They made sure I learned what the schools were afraid to teach us. Also, thank you to my amazing wife for changing my life.
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 teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do. It’s kind of basic mathematics. The more we learn about who we are and what we do, the more we will mobilize.