I typed a transcript for those of you who can't or won't watch the video or need to translate.
***APPLAUSE***
An open letter to the White Privilege Conference 2014 attendees. And I want to make sure you understand that I'm shocked and appalled by what I've learned from ProgressivesToday.com. I'm in a state of shock right now, according to your conference the accomplishments of my family going back generations simply do not exist. Allow me to explain, you see, I'm black. Your conference contends that this country was built on racism. You contend that a pernition evil is the foundation of every institution and permeates every aspect of American life. According to you, to the degree that your conference exists completely negates the fact that I exist. My great grandfather would definitely disagree with your ideas. He grew up in the poor deep south. But he had both parents and he was taught a work ethic that carried him into adulthood, marriage and service as an enlisted man in the U.S. army. His son, my grandfather, went to high school, got married and went on to serve in the army during a tour of the Korean conflict. He returned home and attended Tuskegee University and became a teacher. His first child, was my father who also enlisted, fought in Vietnam, and married my mother, having me and then my sister. My dad went on to serve 26 years, retiring honorably having traveled the world in service to this nation alongside the very white Christian men you claim have oppressed you and every one else. He would disagree on that. My great grandfather was a homeowner as was my granddad and my father. My grandfather was a Deccan and served on committees in his town, rising to a position of leadership. In his community of largely White people in the deep South. My mother and her family members have similar stories of hard work and success. She grew up picking cotton and now has a double Master's degree, in a Management job, placing her firmly in the Upper Middle Class. Their story, my history, is rooted in the years of segregation in Jim Crow South. The stories that I have ? for my father's childhood sting me to this day. Yet even that knowledge flies in the face of your creepness attempt to cheapen the lives of millions of Black Americans striving to succeed and doing just that. Your conference insults the truth of millions of White Americans who have never been the recipients of any largess and still struggle to achieve the American dream. I refuse to be cheapened by your poorly formed malicious ideology. The Age of Enlightenment was just about that. The idea, that as an individual, I can reach for the own stars and control my own destiny. Racism has no impact on that, because excellence goes before an individual paving the way to their goals. I have experienced the fruit of my own failures, successes and not so stellar attempts and still achieved excellence. I have many goals before me that I hope to reach through hard work and sacrifice and no amount of White privilege will ever stop me.
For progressives, "tolerance and diversity" means "believe exactly what I believe, or we will publicly lynch you"
— Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) May 16, 2014
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