The 'Living Single' star talks about the racial injustice and how Black Lives Matter could have been avoided if America had listened to the football star.
- September 25, 2020
AceShowbiz - Queen Latifah wishes the eyes of the world had paid more attention to NFL (National Football League) star Colin Kaepernick's message about police brutality.
The quarterback sparked controversy in the U.S. in 2016 when he became the first NFL star to kneel during the national anthem before games as a protest against racial injustice and police brutality.
Despite making his point clear, however, a greater focus was often placed on the gesture and his message was lost in the process - only to be revived amid the Black Lives Matter movement, which was sparked earlier this year by the killings of Black U.S. citizens including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of cops.
Speaking to U.S. TV show "Extra", Latifah reflected on what has been a "whole year (of) hell," and shared her sadness that it took more deaths for people to wake up to police brutality.
"(Kaepernick) decided to take a knee… and then it became about everything except what it was about," she explained. "It was strictly about police brutality. It was about the way the police were treating Black men…"
"So here we are five years later, and it took the death of George Floyd… a veteran police officer's knee on this man's neck, squeezing the life out of him, for America to really get it."
Despite being "emotionally and financially wounded" by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the "Girls Trip" star is hoping for a brighter future come November's (20) U.S. election.
"I have always liked Kamala Harris… I don't expect her to make miracles overnight. Nobody can reverse what has happened in this country overnight, but I think if we have the right people in place, then we start, you know, chipping away at what has to be done."
