Professor: I would like to know how you can say
that they have no ancestral claim to this land,
and that 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: Well, I'd like you to be more specific.
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: Well, I have to say,
as a professor, that you would come,
I really appreciate that
because I know 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.
Knowles: I've left you speechless.
Professor: You have. Knowles: I've dazzled you.
Professor: Thank you.
[Audience applause]
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 was quiet the entire time you spoke.
Those people still exist.
The North American indigenous people,
Central and South American. They're still here.
And I would like to know how you can say
that they have no ancestral claim to this land,
and that 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: Well, I'd like you to be more specific.
Which people, specifically, and which land, specifically?
Because there were lots of different peoples
in the northern and southern...
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: But there were many different
Native American tribes.
Professor: Would you like me to name all the tribes?
Knowles: Yes, and I'd like you to name...
Professor: Yeah, I'm not going to do that.
Knowles: 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]
That's...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 known 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 did create a new race known as Latinos.
This is a mixture of Spaniards
and Native American populations.
If we are going to revert certain land
to native populations, why would we not then
immediately 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 a 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.
We can certainly have a response.
Professor: Thank you for not answering my question,
and in the future...
Knowles: I think I did answer you.
How specifically could I answer your question?
Professor: If you could not lower the microphone
until the person's done speaking,
I think that'd be better for everyone.
Thank you. That's all.
Knowles: So you were done speaking.
[Audience laughter]
I think the gentleman did just fine, then.
[Audience applause]