Entertainment

Kanye West Shows His Humble Side With Powerful BET Acceptance Speech (Video)

by Adam Pliskin

Kanye West was presented with the Visionary Award at the 2015 BET Honors, which aired last night.

Although he is typically known for ranting, raving and interrupting awards shows, Kanye had some sobering things to say as he accepted the award.

Kanye spoke about race in America and the need for self-awareness. He talked about how black men in America become disenfranchised.

He said,

[Society] would do anything they can to make it seem like a truthful idea is a stupid idea, or a crazy idea. Harriet Tubman said she could have freed so many more... if they only knew they weren't free.

He also spoke about the power the people in the room possessed.

Kanye said,

Our power, our oil, since we don't own any oil, is our expression, is our influence. Don't never let them take that away. And when we have the chance to express it and to influence, don't only just do it for us, do it for the human race.

You can see Kanye's entire moving speech up top.

Citations: Kanye West Delivers Moving Speech at BET Honors (XXL Mag)