Keke Palmer Kept It Real With The National Guard At The Hollywood Black Lives Matter March
Well, I finally dragged my ass out of my sobbing shower yesterday, my throat raw from the bile of my rage, and took it out on a lady I used to work with who was clutching her pearls because somebody broke a window at her favorite thrift store during the protests last night. I went to bed thinking I had solved racism, so imagine my surprise this morning to see that we are still fucked. While my efforts were feeble, America’s sweetheart Keke Palmer was out in the streets of L.A. touching hearts and minds by having a clear-eyed, impassioned dialog with a couple of extras from Black Hawk Down. Deadline reports that they were National Guard, but this is L.A. so they’re probably moonlighters who get a little per diem if they bring their own costume. I kid though, because what Keke did, lobbing logic and reason at uniformed men with guns, was phenomenally brave.
According to Deadline, Keke was marching in Hollywood in protests that ignited last week when a video of the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis reminded those who had forgotten/ignored the fact that America is fundamentally racist.
Palmer, who starred in Akeelah and the Bee and whose recent credits include Hustlers and Berlin Station, was with a group protesting the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police a week ago. “You have to understand what’s going on,” she told the well-armed and camouflage-clad soldiers. “We have a president who’s trying to incite a race war.”
The actress continued to plead her case, ultimately asking them to join her and the crowd. “We need you,” she said. “So march with us. March beside us. You get your people. March beside us. March beside us. Let the revolution be televised.”
Keke’s not content merely serving flawless looks, memes and Kylie Jenner reads, she also served those very uncomfortable looking men a heaping helping of nuanced contextualization of the situation at hand, appealing to their humanity and offering them a mirror so they could see their own complicity in upholding an inherently unjust system that relies on racial oppression in order to function. Yes Keke, let them know!
Watch all of this. pic.twitter.com/YHq0QhXrnw
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) June 2, 2020
Chills. Chills down the side of my face! This was just the antidote I needed after seeing way too many people fawning over police who took a knee during protests only to turn around and gas the crowd. When Keke said, “sorry to this knee,” something inside me was released. Her exasperation is my exasperation. Keke also offered some hard truths on her Instagram which made me retroactively embarrassed thinking about what kind of deep thoughts I was probably burping up when I was 26.
I also wanted to add that while Seth Rogen was rightfully getting props for telling racists in his mentions to fuck off, John Boyega, who has been marching in solidarity in London protests, did the same last week, only he said it will his full chest.
“fuck you racist white people” — john boyega, 2020 pic.twitter.com/vHGvN7ix8N
— tish (@filmschafer) May 27, 2020
Damn, the force is strong with this one!
Pic: Twitter