Admitting to his own previous naiveté and confusion about race, Stephenson paraphrased some wisdom imparted by a close black friend:
When a parent says, “I love my son,” you don’t say, “What about your daughter?” When we walk or run for breast cancer funding and research, we don’t say, “What about prostate cancer?” When the president says, “God bless America,” we don’t say, “Shouldn’t God bless all countries?” And when a person struggling with what’s been broadcast on our airwaves says, “black lives matter,” we should not say “all lives matter” to justify ignoring the real need for change.
“Tolerance is for cowards,” Stephenson concludes in his speech. “Being tolerant requires nothing from you but to be quiet and not make waves.”