The Absolute Best Jesse Williams Quotes on Race

Jesse Williams has become one of our favorite voices when it comes to race relations. During tense times like these when celebrities are mostly quiet, the Grey’s Anatomy star is never too shy to speak out, especially on Twitter.

Here are nine Jesse Williams quotes that prove he can speak up and out for us… at any time.

1.

“There’s no question that race is an issue when you look at the amount of boys that are being shot because you feel scared. The idea of feeling threatened is not the same thing as being threatened. It’s not the same thing, but we pretend it is. But it’s not.” Source: http://www.gradientlair.com/post/77124007691/jesse-williams-on-dunn-trial-jordan-davis

2.

“If you don’t live around Black folks and you just watch TV, you’re going to be racist. You and the media and a fake ass history system that makes you believe that White people created any of this makes you think that Black people ain’t worth a damn.” Source: https://youtu.be/ty4uC2jiLWI

3.

“You can’t corral an entire city or population into ghettos and away from the American Dream and then wonder why it doesn’t look like a Norman Rockwell painting.” Source: https://youtu.be/ty4uC2jiLWI

4.

“This is a different generation. We’re not categorized by these old-school black-and-white tropes that are just not relevant in today’s society. But yet and still we keep pulling from the same pool of material we were pulling from in 1989 or 1993.” Source: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/finding-the-new-black-interview-with-actor-producer-jesse-williams

5.

“I don’t think of just me, I think of a collective group of people. While privilege is very well, whether it’s a class issue that obviously exists–I’m glad you bring that up. This idea of having to explain why it’s racial, while we’re standing in our own blood is silly. It’s racial because it doesn’t […]

6.

“There’s a certain element in this country that has a privilege of being treated like human beings and the rest of us are not treated like human beings, period. And that needs to be discussed.” Source: https://youtu.be/RDU8Bk9jc-s

7.

“This idea that every time a black person does something, they automatically become a thug worthy of death.” Source: https://youtu.be/RDU8Bk9jc-s

8.

“People feel tired of this criminalization of the Black body. It’s the tradition in this country and people are kinda just feeling fatigued about constantly having to go through this all year, every year since the beginning and founding of this nation. This is a tradition in this country when people are able to go […]

9.

“You got to decide whether to wear a du-rag and rob some White person on a TV show. Five of my closest friends have to decide every three days whether they want to chip away at their own soul and chip away a piece of themselves to dance and shuck and jive for White America.” […]