After Twitter Backlash, Terry Crews Says Black Men Are Not Recognized As Victims 'Until We're Dead'
After making some controversial comments about "black supremacy" on Twitter, Terry Crews opened up to NBC about the memories that George Floyd's death led him to recount. Growing up, Crews had several run-ins with police where he said he did not know if he would make it out alive.
Terry Crews Admits To Being Mistreated For Being Black And Accepting It
Floyd's death had Crews thinking all the way back to when he was a child and his father got pulled over by the police. He was scared and feared that the cops would shoot him. This fear followed him throughout his life and he knew at any moment he could be a target for police brutality or violence. This particular case of a black man dying at the hands of a white police officer really cut deep for him. He said "This George Floyd incident has really got to me deep. I haven't been able to sleep. And when you do nod off, you wake up thinking, 'What if the police come to me?"
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Crews also specifically referenced the incident in 2016 in which he was groped at a Hollywood party by agent Adam Venit. He said that if he called the police at the time of the incident, they would have arrested him because he is a black man. They settled the lawsuit in 2018 but it is clear that it stuck with him for all these years as he feels like the police would still see him as a threat. For him, there was just a huge fear of being ostracized.
SEE ALSO: TERRY CREWS' 'BLACK SUPREMACY' COMMENTS SET OFF A TWITTER FIRESTORM
Crews Posted An Instagram Video Saying That He Could Have Been The One Killed By Police
Before posting his tweets that sent the world into a frenzy, Crews posted an Instagram video to speak out about the death of Floyd. In the video, he said "George Floyd looks like me. I could clearly be the man on the ground with the police officer's knee on my neck." For him, the situation was relatable as he has experienced his own run-ins with police or white men who were discriminatory towards him. He also said that he could have been Ahmaud Arbery who was shot and killed by two white men while he was jogging. Both Floyd's and Arbery's deaths sparked protests around the country for justice.
SEE ALSO: AGT: TERRY CREWS APOLOGIZES TO GABRIELLE UNION — DWAYNE WADE ISN'T BUYING IT
When he first moved to Los Angeles in 1997, Crews recounts his white landlord spitting on him before calling him a racial slur. This horrible incident has followed him throughout his life and the death of other black men has made these incidents resurface and cause him more fear. The takeaway from this interview with NBC is Crews saying "Most of the time as black men, we are not recognized as victimized until we're dead."
On Twitter, after his "black supremacy" comments caused a stir, he wrote, "Please know that everything I've said comes from a spirit of love and reconciliation, for the Black community first, then the world as a whole, in hopes to see a better future for Black people." It may take people reading the NBC interview to realize Crews has not had an easy life and understands where members of the black community that are outraged by his comments are coming from.
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