Lethal Weapon Actor Danny Glover: Police Are “The Last Line of Defense for White Supremacy”

Jorge Arenas |

Jul 7, 2020

Legendary actor Danny Glover, who played LAPD Homicide Sergeant Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon films, recently derided police describing them as the “last line of defense for white supremacy.”

Glover’s comments came in an in-depth interview with Variety on a variety of subjects from migration to the death of George Floyd to white supremacy.

Glover, who also played Lieutenant Mike Harrigan in Predator 2 shared the interview to Twitter writing, “I enjoyed this recent interview with Variety. It gave me a chance the think deeply and connect the dots on the migration to our stories as African Americans.”

I enjoyed this recent interview with Variety. It gave me a chance the think deeply and connect the dots on the migration to our stories as African Americans https://t.co/wzmmHNemyD via @variety

— Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover) July 2, 2020

During the interview Glover was asked if the Black Lives Matter movement can make a difference.

He answered, “It has to be seen. We don’t know what’s going to happen in this particular moment.”

Glover continued, “The resources and the allocations that are going to be thrown at this; the choices that are going to be made are going to be numerous.”

“But the violence that we see – whether it’s the toxic places where they (black people) live; the inadequacy of health care for them; whether it’s the lack of affordable housing; the absence of jobs at living wages; all those things – that’s basically going unseen,” he added.

He then began to discuss the police, “We see the actual violence because the police is what it is.”

Glover continued, “It’s the last line line of defense for white supremacy. That’s what the police represents. They don’t protect African Americans.”

He elaborated, “You can make an argument that the institutional violence has its roots in so many different ways. The violence that we see now that is acted out on the physical body of George Floyd has been the kind of violence that is engrained within the American idea of its culture, in its own subtlety, since the first Africans were brought here. So it’s 400 years of violence. It’s not just now!”

Glover then details that the United States of America has been “trapped in its past.”

He explained, “As James Baldwin said: when we cannot tell ourselves the truth about our past, we become trapped in it. This country has been trapped in its past and continues to be.”

“It’s even trapped in its past in terms of First Nations people. We never hear about the violence on First Nations people,” he added.

Glover concluded the question, “What does real change look like? That’s the question at a moment in time when we shape the images of change, and they might not be the kind of substantial changes, qualitative changes and transformative changes that are necessary.”

Glover was then asked by Variety’s Nick Vivarelli about what narrative changes he wants to see coming out of Hollywood.

The Lethal Weapon actor responded, “It may be a democratization of what I call cultural production.”

He then explained cultural production, “Cultural production looks at: how do people live? How do we understand each other? What are the elements that bring us together and form the whole idea of the responsibilities that we have to each other as human beings? How do those kinds of stories evolve?”

“It must not only happen within my business. It has to happen in concert with all the kinds of relationships that we have. We have to be honest about that,” he added.

Glover then stated, “As I said before, we can’t be honest about what we are. We fantasize about what we think should be changed. What does that mean?”

He would answer his own question saying, “I think there has to be some sort of sound way, because we can’t go back to just anything…In terms of saying: we are going back to the past. We can’t go back.”

“Those people who are white and Black and brown and gay and LGBTQ — all of them are saying, as they march in the streets: we can’t go back! That’s the message that’s on the street right now,” he concluded.

Glover’s political activism isn’t a recent occurrence.

Over the years he has championed and campaigned on a multitude of causes including defending former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez after he was accused of gross human rights abuses in order to stay in power.

Glover attended a rally in honor of Chavez where he stated, “As we commemorate and celebrate a true man of the people, Hugo Chavez, his memory lives with us through the work you do as citizens of this great nation, as you continue to realize his vision of a participatory democracy, one involving all citizens.”

Glover was also a proponent of former Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Going live for this conversation in a few mintutes, please tune in! https://t.co/iEwBqntM2v

— Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover) June 23, 2020

The actor has also called for the government to grant reparations to black Americans.

During a hearing on reparations, Glover stated, “A national reparations policy is a moral, democratic, and economic imperative.”

He added, “Despite much progress over the centuries, this hearing is yet another important step in the long and heroic struggle of African Americans to secure reparations for the damages inflicted by enslavement and post-emancipation and racial exclusionary policies.”

Actor Danny Glover says House reparations hearing is an “important step” to “cure reparations for the damages inflicted by enslavement and forced racial exclusionary policies” https://t.co/c5XgfQ11gx pic.twitter.com/NjP91vHLPS

— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 19, 2019

The actor also has been very vocal in support of Black Lives Matter both on social media and through different forms of participation such as the protests at the ports on June 13th.

📢 This Friday Longshoremen are shutting down ports on the entire west coast in solidarity for #BlackLivesMatter follow @JuneteenthSPT ✊🏿 https://t.co/i1LCrBjnXw

— Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover) June 19, 2020

Black Lives Matter is a radical organization that proclaims that one of their goals is to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement.”

They also want to “dismantle cisgender privilege.”

Their co-founder has also described the organization as “trained Marxists.”

The group is increasingly coming under scrutiny.

Recently NFL Pro-Bowler Marcellus Wiley criticized the NBA’s plan to paint Black Lives Matters on courts as well as allow players to wear custom nameplates.