Source: Handout / Getty
Recent remarks from Tyler Perry have confused fans after announcing his refusal to hate police officers during his Academy Awards speech.
On Sunday (April 25), the Atlanta media mogul recently took home the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his work in helping others and feeding people during the pandemic, per a Fox 5 Atlanta report.
Perry using his billion-dollar wallet to help people in their time of need has been well documented over the year. His good deeds include: leaving $21,000 in tips at an Atlanta restaurant, paying the tab for seniors shopping at 73 groceries stores, offering to pay for the funeral of Rayshard Brooks and Secoriea Turner, donating $100,000 to the legal defense fund of Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, and feeding 5,000 families during Thanksgiving last year.
And if you recall, he also offered his home as a refuge for the displaced former royals, Harry and Megan, during their riff with their colonizing family in England.
Anyway, In his emotional story, Perry credited his late mother’s experience growing up in the Jim Crow South for learning how “to refuse blanket judgment” in the face of hate and adversity.
“My mother taught me to refuse hate,” the 51-year-old said on stage at the Oscars. “She taught me to refuse blanket judgment, and in this time, and with all of the Internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour news cycle, it is my hope that all of us, we teach our kids and I want to remember, just refuse hate.”
His plea for peace is a response to the nation’s increase in police shootings, hate crimes, and coronavirus deaths over the past year. However, his compassionate campaign for unity with people of different races and orientations randomly extended to law enforcement, which lost traction with supporters as they continued to watch the show.
“Don’t hate anybody. I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican or because they are Black or white or LGBTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian.”
Did he forget that less than a week ago, the nation watched the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as he was found guilty on all charges for the murder of George Floyd? How does one find peace with the organizations responsible for the tragic deaths of teenagers Ma’Khia Bryant and Adam Toledo within weeks of each other? Make it make sense.
Moving on. Perry ended by dedicating his award to “anyone who wants to stand in the middle,” noting the space as a healing ground for those seeking peace and change.
“I would hope that we would refuse hate and I want to take this Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and dedicate it to anyone who wants to stand in the middle, no matter what’s around the wall. Stand in the middle ’cause that’s where healing happens. That’s where conversation happens. That’s where change happens. It happens in the middle. So, anyone who wants to meet me in the middle, to refuse hate, to refuse blanket judgment, and to help lift someone’s feet off the ground, this one is for you too.”
No offense, but the energy isn’t going anywhere as long police officers keep murdering people instead of using their botched training to deescalate problems in communities whenever they arrive on the scene.
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Photo: Getty
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