After winning the BET Award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Doechii set aside a traditional acceptance speech to instead address the Trump administration’s crackdown on protests in Los Angeles.
The ceremony was held Monday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, just blocks from where protests against a series of brutal ICE raids have been held in downtown Los Angeles. The “Alter Ego” rapper noted that proximity in her remarks, saying, “as much as I’m honored by this award, I do want to address what’s happening right now outside of the building.”
“There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order. Trump is using military forces to stop a protest, and I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us,” she continued. “What type of government is that people are being swept up and torn from their families?”
“And I feel it’s my responsibility to use this moment to speak up for all oppressed people, for black people, for Latino people, for trans people, for the people in Gaza. We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear and I hope we stand together, my brothers and my sisters against hate and we protest against it,” Doechii concluded.
Watch the whole speech below:
Doechii’s remarks come on the 4th day of protests across the region that arose in response to an increase in ICE raids. Since then Trump, falsely claiming that Los Angeles is beset by foreign invaders and citywide riots, federalized the California National Guard to suppress protests and is also sending U.S. Marines. Trump administration officials have also literally threatened to arrest Gov. Gavin Newsom for objecting to this. In addition, SEIU President David Huerta was arrested by ICE agents on Friday and is now facing federal criminal charged for protesting ICE activities.
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