In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, The Guardian reports 464 people have been killed by police in America from January 1 through May 31.
The high-profile deaths of unarmed citizens like Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown led these 12 stars who spoke against police brutality to lend their words to the issue before, during, or after the fact.
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Photo: YouTube Screen Capture
N.W.A
Perhaps you’ve heard of a little ditty called “F–k Tha Police.” Even though you’re just as likely to see Ice Cube play an actual policeman in one of his movies, he and N.W.A dropped the gauntlet back in 1988.
photo: PNP/WENN.com
Janelle Monae
Let it be known that Janelle Monae is here for #BlackLivesMatter. She hit hard with “Hell You Talmbout,” and the fact that the folks at the Today show tried to silence her microphone doesn’t change a thing.
LeBron James
Folks wanted to slander LeBron for taking his talents to South Beach, but he was clearly paying attention to Cleveland great Jim Brown. LeBron threw on his hoodie to protest George Zimmerman killing Trayvon Martin, and he also rocked an “I Can’t Breathe” shirt in support of the late Eric Garner.
photo: Supplied by WENN
Samuel L. Jackson
In December of 2014, Samuel L. Jackson passed on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and instead urged people similarly fed up with racist police practices to sing about it.
Orlando Jones
Like Jackson, Jones was cool on all that dumping of ice buckets, but he did dump out a bucket of bullets to drive home the point of police shooting unarmed black citizens with no legal repercussions.
Spike Lee
While on a panel in Toronto, Spike warned folks not to fall for the jig of thinking police violence against minorities was some new phenomenon. He pointed out how the same chokehold used on the fictional character Radio Raheem was used in real life on Eric Garner, and he also reminded everyone that the officers who beat Rodney King got off.
Chris Rock
Each time Chris Rock gets pulled over in a case of what looks a lot like racial profiling, he makes sure to document it via Instagram and/or Twitter. Funny how the folks posting his old “How not to get your a– kicked by the police” video seem to miss that.
Killer Mike
In the wake of the Mike Brown verdict, Michael Render was the beating heart and exasperated, yet determined voice of reason. He cried, rhymed, and reasoned on CNN for everyone else that was fed up with the same outcome to police being held to a lower standard of justice.
Jon Stewart
His show might’ve been on Comedy Central, but Jon Stewart had no jokes when crooked cops kept getting away with killing unarmed people of color.
Larry Wilmore
As the host of The Nightly Show is fond of reminding us, he’ll quit talking about this ish when it stops happening. In the meantime, the bodies and “not guilty” verdicts are piling up.
photo: Judy Eddy/WENN.com
Jesse Williams
He’s getting checks with Shonda Rhimes, and one look at his Twitter feed would cosign the fact that Jesse Williams stays woke.
