Listen to Jesse Williams' powerful BET Awards speech on race in America

Jesse Williams.
(Image credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)

While accepting the Humanitarian Award Sunday night at the BET Awards, actor Jesse Williams gave a powerful speech about race in America and the pressing need for equality.

The Grey's Anatomy star joined the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and was also the executive producer of Stay Woke, a documentary out in May about Black Lives Matter. BET CEO Debra Lee said Williams received the award because of his "continued efforts and steadfast commitment to furthering social change," but he said the honor wasn't for him, but rather the "real organizers all over the country, the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.