Hollywood actor Will Smith has officially thrown his support behind the Black Lives Matter movement, with the actor recently calling the group perfection in regards to the “marketing of our ideas,” and even proposing that critical race theory be renamed to “truth theory.”
“This is a difficult area to discuss, but I feel like the simplicity of Black Lives Matter was perfect,” said the Bad Boys for Life star in a recent interview with GQ. “Anybody who tries to debate Black Lives Matter looks ridiculous. So when I talk about the marketing of our ideas, Black Lives Matter was perfection. From a standpoint of getting it done, Black Lives Matter gets it done.”
Smith then segued into “Defund The Police” territory by claiming that the slogan and associated movement does not have the same impact that the Black Lives Matter movement has because “‘Defund The Police’ doesn’t get it done, no matter how good the ideas are.”
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t defund the police,” the actor added. “I’m saying, just don’t say that, because then people who would help you won’t.”
On that particular topic, Smith was also eager to offer his opinion on the movement calling to either defund or abolish the police.
Eager to offer his opinion on this particular topic, Smith continued, “So ‘Abolish the police. Defund the police.’ I would love if we would just say ‘Defund the bad police.’”
“It’s almost like I want, as Black Americans, for us to change our marketing for the new position we’re in,” the Suicide Squad actor further elaborated.
Regarding the recent schools of thought which have given life to movements such as Black Lives Matter and ‘Defund The Police’, Smith proposed that now to rename the controversial concept of critical race theory to “truth theory.”
“So ‘critical race theory,’ just call it ‘truth theory,’ ” Smith suggested. “The pendulum is swinging in our direction beautifully. And there’s a certain humility that will most capitalize on the moment for the future of Black Americans, without discounting the difficulty and the pain and the emotion.”
Smith’s comments on the “defund the police” movement echo a statement he made last year when the actor claimed to have been racially abused by the police several times in his youth.
“I grew up in Philadelphia. I grew up under Mayor Rizzo. He went from the chief of police to becoming the mayor, and he had an iron hand. I’ve been called [the “n” word] by the cops in Philly on more than 10 occasions,” Smith said.
He added, “White kids were happy when cops showed up and my heart always started pounding,” whilst mentioning that the police “moved with impunity” when he was younger.
At the time, he also touched on the protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd, saying that “We are in a circumstance that we’ve never been in before. The entire globe has stood up and said to the African American people, ‘We see you and we hear you. How can we help?’ We’ve never been there before.”
He continued, “Peaceful protests put a mirror to the demonic imagery of your oppressor. And the more still you are in your peaceful protest, the more clear the mirror is for your oppressor — for the world to see and for them to see themselves.”
Perhaps Smith isn’t aware of the fact that Black Lives Matter protests aren’t actually peaceful, and actually managed to turn people off from their side last year, with net approval for the social justice movement plummeting on account of the riots continuously prompted by its violent attendees.
According to a poll conducted by Marquette Law School, 61 percent of respondents approved Black Lives Matter protests in June of 2020, while only a 36 percent of the people being surveyed disapproved them.
However, by August of the same year, a follow-up poll revealed that “approval [for the movement] declined in August with 48 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving.”
Facts may not be Smith’s forte regarding this particular topic. After all, the actor is one of the many artists who believes that Georgia’s new voting bill is racist in nature – a belief which prompted him and director Antoine Fuqua to pul production of their movie Emancipation from the state.
In a joint statement, Smith and Fuqua declared, “We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access.”
“The new Georgia voting laws are reminiscent of voting impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Regrettably, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state,” concluded the statement.
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