Actor Jamie Foxx is in San Francisco today to join inter-faith leaders, Mayor London Breed, and Supervisor Shamann Walton for a kneel-in outside City Hall at 11 a.m. to protest police violence and systemic racism.
Foxx has been vocal about the protests that broke out last week in Minnesota, and today he's come to the Bay Area to lend his notoriety to this event with Mayor Breed, Reverend Amos Brown, and others.
"We're not afraid to stand. We're not afraid of the moment," Foxx said when speaking to reporters in Minneapolis on Friday. "I'm not a celebrity. I'm from Terrell, Texas... We want you to know that you have our support."
Jamie Foxx joins social justice advocates in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in solidarity over the death of George Floyd: "All I wanted to do is let you know that we're not afraid to stand...we're not afraid of the moment." https://t.co/elUVBZ8dWy pic.twitter.com/StA6R7mH2u
— ABC News (@ABC) May 29, 2020
According to a release about Monday's kneel-in, the event is happening because, "The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, captured on live video, is a stark reminder of the racist policing that people of color, especially black men, face daily across the country. It represents a violent and utterly unacceptable pattern of behavior by police everywhere, including our own city, that put the lives of people of color at risk from the very individuals who are sworn to protect them."
Foxx and the faith leaders say they are asking city leaders for "fundamental changes in policing people of color, and the removal of racist officers from the police department."
Last week, SFPD Chief Bill Scott expressed his support for the protests that began in Minneapolis, saying that the killing of Floyd was "extremely disturbing."
"What I and everyone else saw on the video images of this incident is flat wrong and not consistent with the respect for the sanctity of human life that all men and women who are sworn peace officers have a duty to uphold,” Scott said. “Furthermore, this issue intersects squarely with policing disparities that have occurred for generations — and continue to occur — in regard to using force on people of color (specifically black and brown men)."
Update: Here is video from the event:
TAKING A KNEE IN FRONT OF SFPD: Actor Jamie Foxx joins San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Shamann Walton, officials from the NAACP, and other leaders in a peaceful ‘kneel-in’ in front of the SFPD HQ to demand an end of police brutality
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 1, 2020
https://t.co/aZhhc5E43u