Thor’s Natalie Portman, Joker’s Joaquin Phoenix, And Dozens Of Other Celebrities Push Petition That Calls For The End Of “Anti-Black Police Terror”
Numerous Hollywood celebrities are throwing their weight behind a new petition to end “anti-black police terror.”
The petition, which is hosted on the Defending Black Lives website has been promoted by Will & Grace’s Debra Messing and been signed by a plethora of A-List actors.
Messing shared the petition to Twitter writing, “Please join me and sign this petition.” She then thanked Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors.
Cullors has openly admitted that Black Lives Matter is a Marxist organization.
While Messing has promoted the petition, others have signed it.
The website claims that Titans actress Minka Kelly, Kick-Ass actress Chloe Moretz, Django Unchained’s Kerry Washington, The Hunger Games’ Amandla Stenberg, Joker’s Joaquin Phoenix, Thor: Love and Thunder’s Natalie Portman, Thor: Ragnarok’s Tessa Thompson, Birds of Prey’s Jurnee Smollet, Titan’s Anna Diop are among the high-profile celebrities who have signed the petition.
Related: Thor Actress Natalie Portman Claims Police Make Her Black Friends And Family “Feel Terror”
As for the actual petition, it is titled, “A Letter to Demand Divestment from Police and an Investment in Black Communities.”
The petition specifically claims “COVID-19 deaths and the deaths caused by police terror are connected and consequential to each other.”
It explains, “The United States does not have a national healthcare system. Instead, we have the largest military budget in the world, and some of the most well-funded and militarized police departments in the world, too.”
“Policing and militarization overwhelmingly dominate the bulk of national and local budgets. In fact, police and military funding has increased every single year since 1973, and at the same time, funding for public health decreased every year, crystallized most recently when the Trump administration eliminated the US Pandemic Response Team in 2018, citing “costs”,” it adds.
It then goes on to claim that “Black communities are living in persistent fear of being killed by state authorities like police, immigration agents or even white vigilantes who are emboldened by state actors.”
Interestingly enough Chicago resident Kenneth Hughes told Fox 9, “We need more cops and federal troops because literally we are in Iraq or something.”
This Chicago man wants more police & federal help to stop the violence
It’s very easy for highly paid activists and politicians to play games with people’s lives pic.twitter.com/gKAHCh29Wu— Tim Walz Lies (@SKihne) July 23, 2020
Nevertheless, the petition continues, “According to the Urban Institute, in 1977, state and local governments spent $60 billion on police and corrections . In 2017, they spent $194 billion. A 220 percent increase.”
It then adds, “Despite continued profiling, harassment, terror and killing of Black communities, local and federal decision-makers continue to invest in the police, which leaves Black people vulnerable and our communities no safer.”
The petition then suggests that money go “towards building healthy communities, to the health of our elders and children,to neighborhood infrastructure, to education, to childcare, to support a vibrant Black future. The possibilities are endless. ”
The petition then closes out reading, “We join in solidarity with the freedom fighters in Minneapolis, Louisville, and across the United States. And we call for the end to police terror.”
It then lists three demands for local official to pledge.
The first states, “Vote no on all increases to police budgets.”
The second reads, “Vote yes to decrease police spending and budgets.”
And the third one says, “Vote yes to increase spending on Health care, education and community programs that keep us safe.”
The full list of celebrities who have signed the petition is below:
- John Legend
- Boogie
- America
- G Herbo
- Taraji P. Henson
- Yara Shahidi
- Megalyn Echikunwoke
- dream hampton
- Jude Demorest
- Kendrick Sampson
- Blair Imani
- Jane Fonda
- Chesa Boudin
- Behzad Dabu
- Darnell Moore
- Jurnee Smollett-Bell
- Shaun King
- Dawn-Lyen Gardner
- Megan Rapino
- Natalie Portman
- Jameela Jamil
- Lizzo
- Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye
- Ashlee Marie Preston
- Talib Kweli
- Charlie Puth
- Angela Davis
- Common
- OBM Blood Bath
- Chris Martin
- Dakota Johnson
- Amber P. Riley
- Anna Diop
- JoJo
- Sarunas Jackson
- Diane Guerrero
- Tessa Thompson
- Christopher Graham
- Rooney Mara
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Kate Mara
- Sophia Bush
- Amandla Stenberg
- Keith Powers
- Kerry Washington
- Chloe Moretz
- Minka Kelly
This isn’t the first time celebrities have thrown their weight behind the concept of defunding the police. Earlier this summer Natalie Portman and Captain Marvel star Brie Larson signed an open letter calling for the defending of police departments.
Numerous celebrities also contributed donations to organizations advocating for the defunding and dismantling of police like Black Lives Matter.
Phoenix for his part has also been active politically this year. He and many other celebrities called for a “radical transformation” of society after the Covid-19 crisis in order to address climate change.
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