Keke Palmer is continuing to use his platform to call for change in the midst of ongoing protests against racial injustice and police brutality. After the 26 year old actress requested the National Guard troops to join the march in a recent demonstration, Keke wrote a column for guests Variety, explaining what the interaction was like for her and why the Black Lives Matter movement is so important.
“I like to follow the rules, and doing what I say. As a child, these rules stick with you. But even at a young age, I was taught to question things that didn’t feel right for me”, began in the column, which was published on Tuesday. “Sometimes, going against the authority is the sole remedy for change, especially when we have seen, too often, those authority figures, and step over the line. So where do you draw the line? How do you know to draw the line? There is a line?”
“Now we are being called to challenge the rules and test the character of those who make them.”
Keke explained that she joined the protests in Los Angeles, “to bring as much awareness as we can to injustices in America and the struggle against white supremacy and what it does to our nation.” “I spoke with the National Guards that prevented us to go beyond a certain point, and challenged them to march with us. In my wildest dreams, all of them march with us without risk of punishment,” he said. Although the guards did not march with her, made him kneel, however, that was not enough to Keke. “Kneeling has become a mockery of all kinds”, he added. “Knees in George Floyd in the neck is what killed him. Now we see the police officers knees, and then, moments later, attacking the peaceful protesters. At this point, the knees, makes no sense.”
The actress, then, emphasized a need for revolution in the united states to dismantle and rebuild the existing systems. “We may not all share the Black experience of this, but I can guarantee you, almost everyone in this country has been oppressed in some way or another,” Keke explained. “I have waited for a revolution, I think, all my life . . . I really believe that everything that has led us up to this point has prepared us for a revolution and a revelation: the dismantling and reconstruction of a system that is better, more equitable and representative of the people it purports to represent.”
She ended her guest column with an important message: “So, although it may be of fear, we were born for this: we are born to be leaders and grow up to “follow the rules”, because following rules is not enough. Now we are being called to challenge the rules and test the character of those who make them.”
Read Keke’s guest column in its entirety in Variety.
Image Source: Getty / Stefanie Keenan
