Professor: I'm a full-time professor
here. I also am Italian American, and I happen to agree with the
protestor in the back. Knowles: I have to say, as a professor,
that you would come, I really appreciate that, because I know that
students come out a lot, but professors don't always come out
to hear opposing points of view. So that's a wonderful thing.
[Audience applause] Professor: It's my duty.
Umm... But... Knowles: I've left you speechless.
I've dazzled you. Professor: You have, thank you.
[Audience laughter and applause] Professor: In 1492, before a racist and
genocider came to this land, there were people living here.
Every inch of this land was occupied. Knowles: Just as a matter of history,
not every inch of the land was occupied. There were huge areas that
were completely wilderness. Professor: I'd like to... I was
quiet the entire time you spoke. Those people still exist, the North
American indigenous people, and Central and South American
people. They are still here. And I would like to know how you can say they
have no ancestral claim to this land. And how, as a white person, you can say that
they cannot migrate freely and cannot use the land freely that they, rightfully, own
and have for thousands of years? Knowles: I'd like you to be more
specific. Which people, specifically, and which land, specifically? Because
there were a lot of different peoples in North America and South America
at the arrival of Christopher Columbus. So which people do you think
have a claim to which land? Professor: I'm talking about
the Native Americans... Knowles: There were many
different Native American tribes. Professor: Would you like me
to name all the tribes? Knowles: Yes, and the reason I would
like you to name all the tribes is because there were many tribes who
conquered many other tribes. So just as an example...
[Audience applause] Knowles: Thank you.
Just as an example, the Comanche Indians come in, and
they conquer areas run by the Apache Indians. Now, the United States
comes in, and it owns that land. To which tribe should that revert?
To which tribe should that land revert? The Comanche who had it before us,
or the Apache who had it before them? Moreover, for the people who still
exist... You're referring to Christopher Columbus in an ahistorical
way by calling him some sort of racist or some sort of genocidal maniac.
The man never committed any sorts of genocide at all, and he was actually
know among the Spanish explorers for his good treatment of the natives.
That point is neither here nor there, and I encourage people to read
biographies of Christopher Columbus because there's a lot of
historical fiction out there. The point on that is that when the
Spanish came to this country and to this continent, they created
a new race known as "Latinos." This is a mixture of Spaniards
and Native American populations. So if we're going to revert certain
land to native populations, why would we not them immediatly
take that land away from them because they also descend
from Spanish explorers? In what sort of atomized way would
you define your own race, your own identity? I think this is a
very backwards and, ultimately, impossible view of personal identity
that puts your stock in some particular ancestor rather than something that is
larger than yourself. I think it's madness of the modern Left, and it
leads to crazy policy proposals, such as saying that somebody who
descends from a native population in Colombia has a right to move to
any apartment he wants to in New York because of race, or something.
Oh my god a total demolishment using nothing but bullshit and Adderall.