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has folks highly confused and deeply concerned when he linked fighting white supremacy without white people to “Black supremacy.”
Crews made his comments in light of the
worldwide protests against police violence and anti-black racism.
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“Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy,” he tweeted on Sunday evening. “Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together.”
Mr. Crews had people shaking.
Folks pointed out that considering 400 years of slavery, the hundreds of years of colonization, the building of white wealth, discriminative laws — the list goes on and on — it’s nearly impossible for Black supremacy to even be a word.
Fellow actress
Amanda Seale‘s explained:
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“Just so we’re clear: 1: there is no such thing as BLACK SUPREMACY. Liberation from an oppressive system is not rooted in a desire to BECOME the oppressive system.”
Even Crews’ former co-star on the sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris”,
Tyler James Williams, had to ask Crews if he was okay.
“Terry, brother, I know your heart and you know I have love for you and always will,” Williams tweeted. “No one is calling 4 black supremacy & the narrative that we are hurts our cause & our people. We’re just vigorously vetting our ‘allies’ because time & time again they have failed us in the past.”
https://twitter.com/TylerJamesWill/status/1269801883679387648
Another comrade, the comedian
Godrey, tweeted at Crews writing:
“I love you as a friend Brother Terry. But I disagree with you 100 %. No such thing as Black Supremacy. That is a tactic that Racist whites use to counteract our rebellion to their horrific treatment of us. It’s called Gas lighting. Black pride isn’t anti white.”
Crews responded to his piers with tweets of his own,
telling Godrey, “I agree. I’m not discussing white people here. there are ‘gatekeepers of Blackness’ within our own community who decide who’s Black and who’s not. I have often been called out for not being ‘black enough’. How can that be?”
Mr. Crews, you were talking about white people here because you basically said without white people in liberation movements, Black supremacy will occur, which is dangerous as Godrey said. Writer and activist
Kevin Powell echoed this sentiment, writing:
“Terry, with all due respect, given your platform, you cannot just post something like that even remotely suggests that Black people would fall into ‘Black Supremacy’ if we battle White Supremacy without White people.”
Crews responded to Powell writing, “Kevin, I’ve learned that people will take anything you say and twist it for their own evil. Anything.”
Crews went on to responded to Williams as well, tweeting, “I was not saying Black supremacy exists, because it doesn’t. I am saying if both Black and Whites don’t continue to work together– bad attitudes and resentments can create a dangerous self-righteousness. That’s all.”
By Monday morning, Crews tried to clarify his comments even more with a series of tweets:
“Any Black person who calls me a coon or and [sic] Uncle Tom for promoting EQUALITY is a Black Supremist, because they have determined who’s Black and who is not.”
Remember earlier he said he doesn’t believe Black Supremacy exists right now. Moving on.
“Please know that everything I’ve said comes from a spirit of love and reconciliation, for the Black community first,” he continued. “Then the world as a whole, in hopes to see a better future for Black people.”
“I believe it is important we not suffer from groupthink, and we keep minds of our own, and be allowed to ask difficult questions to each other,” he ended. “I believe this dialogue is important as we get through this trauma together. I love you.”
Suffering from “groupthink” is different from not having context or actual facts, but okay Mr. Crews.
This is not the first time Crews has caught heat from the Internet. Just five months ago he received backlash for not defending
Gabrielle Union when she said “America’s Got Talent” had a toxic work culture. Crews suggested that he had no need to defend her, even after she defended him when he said he was sexually assaulted. Eventually, Crews apologized for the tweets he wrote which seemed to be aimed at Union.
But considering these recent tweets, it appears Mr. Crews still has a lot to learn. You can check out more people’s reaction to his “Black Supremacy” comments below.
