Source: NBC / Getty
Terry Crews has endured Twitter draggings in the past but his latest gaffe, which has him being slammed with criticism left and right, is baffling considering the timing. The musclebound actor shared a misguided tweet that was meant to promote harmony but instead came off as if he was centering white people in the fight for racial equality.
On Sunday (June 7), Crews tweeted out the following:
Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth.
Like it or not, we are all in this together.
With immediacy, folks on Twitter began to check crews for his words that, frankly speaking, came off as a misguided attempt to demand Black people include white people to bring about equality and justice across the board. However, with Black Americans already having to rail against racism and police brutality as evidenced by the
robust protests, the onus is on white people to do their own work in this regard and not have Black people do the heavy lifting for them.
Crews defended the tweet after the likes of writer Kevin Powell, actor, and Crews’ former
Everybody Hates Chris co-star Tyler James Williams and others chimed in and offered their perspectives.
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“I understand, Tyler. 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,” Crews said in response to Williams’ tweet trying to talk his friend off the All Lives Matter ledge.
Crews then told Powell that he’s not suggesting that Black people are heading towards this mythical world of Black Supremacy but didn’t really clarify the tweet either. Instead, Crews said to Powell that people are misreading him and twisting his words.
In the end, Crews is standing firm on the hill that he’s currently dying on as evidenced by an early morning tweet.
“Any Black person who calls me a coon or and Uncle Tom for promoting EQUALITY is a Black Supremist, because they have determined who’s Black and who is not,” Crews wrote.
The problem here is that Crews is insulating that the fight for fairness is rooted in being superior to white people. White supremacy has centuries of evidence that point to its effect on Black lives in America and across the globe, and in no way has the movement been about ruling white people with the same oppressive tactics.
Hopefully, Terry Crews will come to his senses and realize how this potentially harms the movement.
Check out the reactions to Crews’ tweets below.
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Photo: Getty
