(14:50:00) Speech at the SPPD and Municipal Building

Speaker [00:06:59] Hello Everybody. Can you all here me? Clap once if you can all hear me. I just want to say, growing up here in South Plainfield, I would have never thought that we would have had this many people turn out for this. So, give yourself a round of applause. And right now, we're going to take a knee for George Floyd, who died two weeks ago at age 46, because of a police officer who didn't know his restraint.

Speaker [00:07:35] So please join me in a moment of silence.

Speaker [00:07:49] Thank you. Now.

Speaker [00:07:53] Growing up as a black man in America, you shouldn't be seen as something that you should be afraid of.

Speaker [00:08:01] We don't want to wake up and feel like we're a threat to society. We just want to go out and live our lives like everybody else does. We are all here taking a knee because we want to show the world that we're not trying to be violent. We're not trying to cause any harm. We're not trying to hurt anybody. But we also raise our fist into the air because we're also here to tell the world that we're not going to stop fighting for what we believe in.

Speaker [00:08:30] I love this country. I love this country. But it's because I love this country so much that I want to see you change. I want to see everybody smiling in the same exact language. We all cry when we're sad. It doesn't matter if you're black or you're white or you Spanish, or you're Muslim, or Indian, or your Asian. I look out into this crowd and yes, I see everybody's race.

Speaker [00:08:59] Do I care what it does? No, I don't care. We're all here together.

Speaker [00:09:09] I'm just. I'm tired, man. I'm tired. I'm tired.

Speaker [00:09:15] I'm tired of having to wake up and think that, oh, if I get stopped by, the police officer might like to be over. I'm tired of when I walk into a convenience store, the clerk is looking at me cause I might steal something.

Speaker [00:09:35] I'm tired of looking on social media or looking on the news to see another African-American man dead? Children without their parents, parents without them children. It's not even just us. You look at the news and see people in cages. What is that? That is not America!

Speaker [00:10:07] The time to change is now. You guys, we have to go out there. We have to make a change. We have to make a change. To solve a problem, you need to [inaudible, 3 syllables] equal. This is for everybody. This is our country, we're all in this together. So let's stop acting like we're enemies and start making a change for a better future.

Speaker [00:10:41] Now, you guys are all on your knees, and I know for a fact your knees are starting to hurt. I see you guys switching knees. I see people ready to stand up. And guess what? Stand up.

Speaker [00:11:05] You guys see how you all were just able to stand up. You see how you just got the luxury to be able to stand up. Well, just think about George Floyd, he didn't have that luxury. So we're going to take an eight minute and forty six seconds. Moment of silence in memory of George Floyd.

Speaker [00:11:33] After we leave this protest, it's over here. It doesn't end here. You got to take it home. That thought. George Floyd was killed innocently. Take that thought with you.

Speaker [00:11:53] Treat everybody equally. Doesn't matter their skin tone.

Speaker [00:12:19] I'm going to tell you that hurt is learned. You teach your children equality. I see a lot of familiar faces out here. See a lot of kids.

Speaker [00:12:33] Teach the kids, teach the kids equality, teach them that everybody is like. We're all human. Every one of us is human? Like Michael said, we heard the same. We smile the same, we laugh the same. We're all Human. Take that thought home with you. Don't let us stop here because everybody here. What happens behind closed doors? Confront your friends. When your friends say something out of line you contront them, right there. How to scare something that grows. Stop letting it be slid under the rug. Because they grow. They grow.

Speaker [00:13:23] They grow up to be hateful. Just because the way you look. That should not matter. Black lives matter. Black lives matter, black lives matter. Come on Now. We're going to take our horde back to the field.

Speaker [00:13:51] But when you do the chants, mean it. Don't just say it because people aren't around. Or, "I've got to fit in." Say, it because you mean. You mean it. Say it because you mean it. You're fighting for your friends. You're fighting for your family. Mean it.

Speaker [00:14:21] Lets make this march. Black lives matter.

Speaker [00:16:51] So I think that we still have a long way to go. A lot of fights about the black that.

Speaker [00:17:21] Jose.

Speaker [00:17:26] Is means let it resound loud is the rule.

Speaker [00:17:42] He has.