Issa Rae Is Demanding Radical Change

Issa Rae is using her platform for good.

On Thursday (June 2), the Insecure star shared with her 2.7 million Instagram followers the groups and organizations she’s supporting during nationwide protests over police brutality. 

Among the ones she highlighted include, Black Lives Matter, Regional Bail Funds, Defund the LAPD, BLD PWR, National Police Accountability Project, ACLU and Black Table Arts.

Furthermore, the actress and producer also spoke with the Hollywood Reporter about making her voice heard.

“I recognized that so many people felt anxious, overwhelmed and aimless,” said to the celebrity news outlet. “While I saw various anti-racism lists circulating, they each had like 30-50 broadly Black organizations, which is great, but a lot. So, I wanted to consolidate my call to action to a few organizations that kept the focus and mission clear. For me, that mission is to end police brutality and killings.”

As far as defunding the police is concerned, Rae says she’s all for it as it would most likely curb crime and provide communities, particularly of color, more opportunities since more resources for them would be available.

“I definitely fully support allocating the police budget to more social services, and I absolutely support abolishing the police in the long run, and especially in communities that don’t benefit from police services,” she said. “But we need a comprehensive plan, because too many people can’t see it, and too many people don’t care enough to educate themselves because they operate in a safe bubble. And I don’t think you can talk about abolishing the police in its entirety in this country without addressing gun control and reform. Those things go hand in hand, and I think as long as we have a gun problem, we’re going to have a police problem.”

Issa Rae has also been a proponent of fair elections as voter suppression has been happening widespread nationwide. With less than 150 days left before the November election, she says she’s been working with organizations to help give everyone the opportunity to vote.

“I am having a lot of conversations with organizations and getting more educated,” she said. “Like I think about the primary election in Kentucky, where they cut polling stations down by 95 percent, and of course Black people are most affected. In Louisville, where most Black residents live, they have one station for 600,000 to 700,000 people. That is clear and obvious voter suppression, and that is a decision that’s made at the state level.” 

She continued: “I obviously can’t vote in Kentucky, but I can get the information out about the injustices and put the spotlight on it. These decisions happen on a state level, so it’s so, so important to participate in these smaller elections. People think it’s just about Biden and Trump, but this is where you create true change, in the House and the Senate. If you want to make a difference in stopping this, look up the organization Fair Fight that combats voter suppression.”

Issa Rae isn’t the only cast member of Insecure who is for defunding the police. Kendrick Sampson, who plays Nathan on the HBO series, has also expressed a need for law enforcement to divest resources to other areas of societal need. He along with Tessa Thompson (“Avengers: Endgame,” “Westworld”) and Black Lives Matter co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Melina Abdullah, penned a letter to the entertainment industry as a whole about the changes they want to see made. It reads, in part:

We know these changes have the power to change Black lives in America.  It is time for Hollywood to acknowledge its role and take on the responsibility of repairing the damage and being a proactive part of the change.

In light of continued systemic, brutal murders of Black people, members of the Black community in Hollywood are standing together with the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of community-based organizations from all over the country including Black Lives Matter, and with the families and loved ones of George Floyd,  Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Kenneth Ross Jr, Wakeisha Wilson, Rayshard Brooks and countless others in the movement to Defund Police and Defend Black Lives.

Read the full THR interview with Issa Rae here.