Wanda Sykes has an important message for white people.
The 56-year-old comedian made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday (June 4) where she talked about a recent video she posted on Instagram where she explained why white people need to “step up” and address systemic racism.
“I was already just so frustrated and angry,” Wanda shared with Jimmy. “We’re just tired of this, man. It’s like we just keep going back and it’s the same thing over and over again. And I think this one, it just, it was it.” She added, “It was like, ‘Enough.’”
Wanda went on to address the black community’s fight for equal treatment and against police brutality.
“I just had to do something. It’s like, we can’t do it alone,” Wanda said. “We’re out there marching and asking for change. You know, we need white people to do it. We need white people to tell white people to stop being racist because when we do it, obviously it’s not working.”
Jimmy then mentioned that he saw videos from a protest in Manhattan Beach, Calif that was made up of mostly white protestors.
“This is different. You can feel it. You can feel this is different,” Wanda said of the protests now versus in the past. “You see white people out there and I guess we just had to tell y’all, ‘Hey, it’s okay. You can march. Just because it’s Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean we don’t want you involved. We need you involved.’”
Wanda added, “I had to go to the grocery store and it was a bunch of white kids on the corner, you know, and some black kids too and they were out protesting and it’s just beautiful. Beautiful to see…I think we are going to see some movement.”
