Terry Crews is sharing his personal experiences with racism in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The “America’s Got Talent” host joined Kit Hoover and Scott Evans for “Access Daily” for a virtual interview and opened up about the death of George Floyd, which sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and heightened awareness about police brutality and racial equality for all in the United States.
“You’ve seen me, in movies or whatever but before all this, I was always a threat. I would be going to the mall or going different places. I’ve had guns pointed at me by police officers in L.A. This was before I was famous. The thing is, they had the wrong guy,” Terry explained to Scott and Kit.
“It’s something that every black man has been through and it’s hard to really try to get other people to understand. I have to say, right here, what is going on right now is Black America’s Me Too movement. We always knew this was happening, but now white people are understanding,” Terry shared.
“With that George Floyd video that came out it literally opened up the world because now you’ve experienced it and you have to go through the same trauma that Black America has been going through,” he continued.
Terry, who is a father of five, has been having ongoing conversations with his children about the racial injustices in America. However, Terry shared that he’s specifically concerned about his teen son when it comes to interacting with authorities.
“As a young black man, you’re not going to be treated as a 14-year-old, especially by the police,” Terry explained. “He was scared, I’ll be honest, it’s one of those things where he gets heart palpitations when a police car goes by. It’s not the same. He does not feel safe, there’s a threat feeling,” Terry continued.
“It’s hard, it’s hard, because a lot of kids right now from what they’ve seen and even after in the protests and some of the actions of police, it has not been good. I’ve talked to him about always, always, being conscience of who he is and where he is and always look out for his own safety,” Terry said.
The 51-year-old star also shared that the cast of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” has been having candid conversations about racism and how the Black Lives Matters movement has affected future episodes of the hit comedy. And they are planning to make changes to their upcoming season in order to amplify themes coming out of the movement.
“We’ve had a lot of somber talks about it and deep conversations and we hope through this we’re going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year. We have an opportunity and we plan to use it in the best way possible,” Terry revealed. “Our show-runner Dan Goor, they had four episodes all ready to go and they just threw them in the trash. We have to start over. Right now we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in.”
Terry sees the current Black Lives Matter movement as a chance for the world to come together for permanent change.
“This is an opportunity right now for us all to unite and get together and understand what this is and that we have to battle this together.”