get a lot of that picture do I have a
shoulder or no pretty pretty good all
right I’d like to tell you guys a story
today three years ago my little sister’s
birthday
my big sister my mom and I took her to
Detroit to see her favorite band in
concert alright so we’re in Detroit nine
o’clock at night pitch black there was
one street lamp working on the other
side of the block and we’re standing
outside the venue we’re all standing
there and an arm grabs my shoulder spins
me around and I’m face to face with the
largest black man I’ve ever seen in my
life he was six five 300 pounds
he had a triple XL hoody on his jeans
were down to his knees he had a white
do-rag on and on top of that Detroit
Tigers snapback on sideways I’m looking
up at him he’s looking down on me and he
goes hey you I’m looking up and I say
yeah what are you lying for a concert
some sort of rock group yeah Dan looks
at me and he goes man you’re gonna have
the greatest time of your life we’re
gonna be able to hear that music from
outside have a great night and walked
away I didn’t say anything then I looked
down my hands they’re shaking and my
knees I can’t feel him anymore I was
scared of this man and I didn’t know why
back then but now I do that’s what I’m
gonna talk to you guys about today our
families lay the foundation for our
beliefs I’ve been fortunate enough to
been brought up in a family that values
culture diversity and ethnicity
yet somehow a wall of preconceived ideas
had formed in my head right there
and then I realized every day I watch
the news when I wake up I watch the news
when I get home from watch I when I get
home from school I watch the news and
before I go to bed I watch the news
every day I see that there’s a murder in
Detroit there’s another arson there’s
another armed robbery or there’s another
rape and every day I see who did it and
every day I see another black male my
whole life
the news has taught me that if there’s a
black male in Detroit you better be
afraid of him
and that’s not true same goes for
Muslims 26 dead at the Sandy Hook
shooting 20 of which were
kindergarteners an act of violence fuel
fueled by political views but it wasn’t
called a terrorist attack and that’s
because over the past 16 years in
America we have been taught that for
something to be a terrorist attack the
perpetrator has to say Allah before he
pulls the trigger and that is not true
for something to be a terrorist attack
you have to use a violence to show how
you’re feeling get your viewpoints
across through violence it has nothing
to do if you’re Muslim or not but that’s
how we’ve been taught whenever there’s a
crime in America and a Muslim did it
it’s a terrorist attack and that is not
true every single day of my life
the news put on another brick on this
wall of preconceived ideas I didn’t know
I had it’s not just the news whenever
you see a movie
whenever you see a TV show and there’s a
gang in there it’s always black the one
time there wasn’t a black gang was in
West Side Story and there’s a bunch of
white kids singing and dancing
whenever we see a terrorist in the movie
he’s Muslim and this is not true being
Muslim has nothing to do if you’re
terrorists or not being black doesn’t
mean you’re in a gang but Hollywood is
portraying his people that way so every
single movie I watched every single TV
show I saw another brick was added onto
the swath of preconceived ideas I didn’t
know I had every little bit counts right
especially when you’re making a wall
every little bit counts every little
joke you tell adds onto this wall if I
say there’s this blonde girl you
obviously know that in this joke this
blonde girl is gonna be dumb if I say
you drop your iPhone in water but in a
bag of rice leave it out overnight you
know where this jokes going with the
Asian population every little bit counts
every little joke we say even though we
think they’re harmless they just add
bricks onto this wall of preconceived
ideas and this wall just keeps getting
bigger and bigger and bigger and no
one’s doing anything about it so now I
want to take a second and we’re just
gonna see how big your wallet
preconceived ideas is and if I was in
your shoes three years ago and a white
kid from Howell was given a speech about
being open-minded and we’re just gonna
see how open-minded you are compared to
me I’d say there’s no freaking way that
this kid is more open-minded than me
this is not possible he’s a white kid
from Howell it doesn’t add up
right Matt’s not there but let’s see I
want you guys to close your eyes just
imagine what I say all right close your
eyes here we go
an Ivy League student an immigrant a
criminal
a suicide bomber a good student
a successful person and finally a bad
student
you guys can open your eyes now
if you are able to profile any of those
examples by race by gender by religion
by age you have a wall of preconceived
ideas like I once had because none of
those examples had anything to do with
those there’s no correlation between the
two but our whole life’s we’ve been
taught there is this whole entire speech
boils down to one thing that you’ve
heard every single day of your life
don’t judge a book by it’s cover and
that’s true if you don’t judge a book by
its cover you’ll realize that that
blonde girl is pretty smart you might
think that my Asian friends really good
at driving he might even be the Stig
from top gear you’ll realize that that
Muslim on the plane sitting down next to
you is just going to see his newborn
nephew and then I’m taken back to the
worst day of my life a day I’ll never
forget a day I was never more disgusted
in myself then I realized that that man
just wanted me to have a good time at
the concert
thank you
[Applause]
shoulder or no pretty pretty good all
right I’d like to tell you guys a story
today three years ago my little sister’s
birthday
my big sister my mom and I took her to
Detroit to see her favorite band in
concert alright so we’re in Detroit nine
o’clock at night pitch black there was
one street lamp working on the other
side of the block and we’re standing
outside the venue we’re all standing
there and an arm grabs my shoulder spins
me around and I’m face to face with the
largest black man I’ve ever seen in my
life he was six five 300 pounds
he had a triple XL hoody on his jeans
were down to his knees he had a white
do-rag on and on top of that Detroit
Tigers snapback on sideways I’m looking
up at him he’s looking down on me and he
goes hey you I’m looking up and I say
yeah what are you lying for a concert
some sort of rock group yeah Dan looks
at me and he goes man you’re gonna have
the greatest time of your life we’re
gonna be able to hear that music from
outside have a great night and walked
away I didn’t say anything then I looked
down my hands they’re shaking and my
knees I can’t feel him anymore I was
scared of this man and I didn’t know why
back then but now I do that’s what I’m
gonna talk to you guys about today our
families lay the foundation for our
beliefs I’ve been fortunate enough to
been brought up in a family that values
culture diversity and ethnicity
yet somehow a wall of preconceived ideas
had formed in my head right there
and then I realized every day I watch
the news when I wake up I watch the news
when I get home from watch I when I get
home from school I watch the news and
before I go to bed I watch the news
every day I see that there’s a murder in
Detroit there’s another arson there’s
another armed robbery or there’s another
rape and every day I see who did it and
every day I see another black male my
whole life
the news has taught me that if there’s a
black male in Detroit you better be
afraid of him
and that’s not true same goes for
Muslims 26 dead at the Sandy Hook
shooting 20 of which were
kindergarteners an act of violence fuel
fueled by political views but it wasn’t
called a terrorist attack and that’s
because over the past 16 years in
America we have been taught that for
something to be a terrorist attack the
perpetrator has to say Allah before he
pulls the trigger and that is not true
for something to be a terrorist attack
you have to use a violence to show how
you’re feeling get your viewpoints
across through violence it has nothing
to do if you’re Muslim or not but that’s
how we’ve been taught whenever there’s a
crime in America and a Muslim did it
it’s a terrorist attack and that is not
true every single day of my life
the news put on another brick on this
wall of preconceived ideas I didn’t know
I had it’s not just the news whenever
you see a movie
whenever you see a TV show and there’s a
gang in there it’s always black the one
time there wasn’t a black gang was in
West Side Story and there’s a bunch of
white kids singing and dancing
whenever we see a terrorist in the movie
he’s Muslim and this is not true being
Muslim has nothing to do if you’re
terrorists or not being black doesn’t
mean you’re in a gang but Hollywood is
portraying his people that way so every
single movie I watched every single TV
show I saw another brick was added onto
the swath of preconceived ideas I didn’t
know I had every little bit counts right
especially when you’re making a wall
every little bit counts every little
joke you tell adds onto this wall if I
say there’s this blonde girl you
obviously know that in this joke this
blonde girl is gonna be dumb if I say
you drop your iPhone in water but in a
bag of rice leave it out overnight you
know where this jokes going with the
Asian population every little bit counts
every little joke we say even though we
think they’re harmless they just add
bricks onto this wall of preconceived
ideas and this wall just keeps getting
bigger and bigger and bigger and no
one’s doing anything about it so now I
want to take a second and we’re just
gonna see how big your wallet
preconceived ideas is and if I was in
your shoes three years ago and a white
kid from Howell was given a speech about
being open-minded and we’re just gonna
see how open-minded you are compared to
me I’d say there’s no freaking way that
this kid is more open-minded than me
this is not possible he’s a white kid
from Howell it doesn’t add up
right Matt’s not there but let’s see I
want you guys to close your eyes just
imagine what I say all right close your
eyes here we go
an Ivy League student an immigrant a
criminal
a suicide bomber a good student
a successful person and finally a bad
student
you guys can open your eyes now
if you are able to profile any of those
examples by race by gender by religion
by age you have a wall of preconceived
ideas like I once had because none of
those examples had anything to do with
those there’s no correlation between the
two but our whole life’s we’ve been
taught there is this whole entire speech
boils down to one thing that you’ve
heard every single day of your life
don’t judge a book by it’s cover and
that’s true if you don’t judge a book by
its cover you’ll realize that that
blonde girl is pretty smart you might
think that my Asian friends really good
at driving he might even be the Stig
from top gear you’ll realize that that
Muslim on the plane sitting down next to
you is just going to see his newborn
nephew and then I’m taken back to the
worst day of my life a day I’ll never
forget a day I was never more disgusted
in myself then I realized that that man
just wanted me to have a good time at
the concert
thank you
[Applause]
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