In a year already marked by cultural upheaval and political whiplash, the 2025 BET Awards proved to be more than a celebration of music, art, and Black excellence—it became a thunderous call to action. Hollywood powerhouse and generational trailblazer Tyler Perry took to the stage and delivered a searing, heartfelt address that unapologetically slammed the Trump administration’s enduring legacy of historical erasure and systemic oppression.

Dressed in quiet dignity and armed with undeniable truth, Perry opened his speech with a story about his son, but it was his fearless pivot into the realities facing Black Americans that electrified the room. “They are removing our books from libraries. They are removing our stories and our history. They are removing our names from government buildings as if someone wants to erase our footprints,” Perry warned, his voice echoing across generations.

With a preacher’s cadence and a historian’s urgency, Perry drew a chilling picture of the calculated censorship taking place in school curriculums and public discourse—echoes of Trump-era mandates that sought to reframe slavery as "involuntary relocation" and scrub curricula clean of anything that revealed the true scars of America’s past.

 The Truth Cannot Be Deleted

Perry reminded the audience that the footprints of Black history are not so easily wiped away: “It’s impossible to erase our footprints, because we left them on water.” His poetic reference to the Middle Passage wasn’t just historical—it was a spiritual reminder of resilience. From the bottom of slave ships to the top of box offices, Black America has always left undeniable imprints.

But his words weren’t a history lesson—they were a blueprint for present-day resistance.

Perry boldly declared, “This is not the time to be silent. This is not the time to give up. This is the time to dig in and keep leaving footprints everywhere you go.”

And dig in, he has. With Tyler Perry Studios, the mogul has created generational wealth and opportunity for countless Black creatives. “I’ve made more Black millionaires than any studio in this city combined,” he said. “Because I’m making footprints.”

 DOECHII: Doechii used her acceptance speech for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist at the 2025 BET Awards to sharply rebuke President Trump, calling out his administration’s deployment of military forces to suppress protests—condemning what she described as "ruthless attacks" on democratic expression
 

 

 

Doechii Joins the Frontlines

Hip-hop rising star and cultural firebrand Doechii matched Perry’s intensity with her own powerful indictment of Trump’s political tactics. Accepting her award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, she condemned the militarized crackdown on peaceful protests, referring to the weekend's Trump-directed deployment of military forces against immigration protestors in Los Angeles.

“Trump is using military forces to stop a protest,” she declared. “What kind of government uses military against its own citizens for exercising democratic rights?”

Her voice carried beyond the music world. “I feel it’s my responsibility as an artist to speak up—for Black people, Latino people, trans people, for the people of Gaza. We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear.”

This moment marked a generational torch-passing—from established moguls like Perry to powerful new voices like Doechii—uniting the past, present, and future in a shared demand for justice, truth, and visibility. 

Erasing History Is Erasing Power

Trump’s administration and its ideological descendants have worked tirelessly to control the narrative—from banning books that center Black voices to downplaying the impact of Jim Crow and the Tulsa Race Massacre. This attempt to whitewash history is not just academic; it’s economic, social, and spiritual theft.

As Perry noted, “If our children don’t know our history, they won’t know our power.”

In Houston, where cultural pride meets civil resistance daily, these speeches hit especially hard. From the legacy of Barbara Jordan to the community efforts of today’s Black leaders, Houstonians know the fight for inclusion and accurate representation is far from over.

The Final Word: Make Footprints

Perry closed with a rallying cry that transcended party lines and pierced straight

into the soul of anyone who’s ever dared to dream:

“If you have a dream, keep making footprints. Don’t let anybody stop you. You can do it.”