“It starts at home.”
This isn’t going to go over well in liberal Hollywood circles.
Taking a stance that’s all but certain to prompt a walk back, actor Denzel Washington said the incarceration rate of young black males is not the fault of the criminal justice system, but of fatherless homes.
Washington made the assertion while speaking to reporters at the premier of his new film, “Roman J. Israel, Esq,” in which the Oscar-winning actor plays an idealistic defense attorney whose beliefs are tested when he joins a new firm, The New York Daily News reported.
But Washington said the role didn’t alter his belief that responsibility begins at home — within the traditional family structure.
“It starts at the home,” he insisted. “It starts at home. It starts with how you raise your children. If a young man doesn’t have a father figure, he’ll go find a father figure.”
“So you know I can’t blame the system,” the actor continued. “It’s unfortunate that we make such easy work for them.”
Bret Baier had dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Thanksgiving weekend, one picture has the left in a meltdown
Washington reiterated his position in an interview with Reuters, sharing his personal experiences with fatherless homes in the black community.
“I grew up with guys who did decades [in prison] and it had as much to do with their fathers not being in their lives as it did to do with any system,” he told the news outfit.
The film’s director, Dan Gilroy, expressed a sentiment popular in the racial grievance industry, telling Reuters the United States criminal justice system is inherently racist.
“Our prison system needs reform at a fundamental level,” Gilroy said. “We have the highest incarceration rate of any place in the Western world. … It’s not racially equal, it’s not socio-economically equal.”
The quick, out-of-the gate opinion on social media was that “Black Twitter won’t like this.”
https://twitter.com/lex_looper/status/934983219161845761
…and right on cue, Washington was served up like so many Thanksgiving leftovers.
Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/hoodqueer/status/934147011212914689
And to think…about this time last year, I used to like him.
Over these bourgeoisie ass public figures using their platforms to perpetuate these toxic ass respectability politics. https://t.co/yMHwn0bLeG
— Get in, loser, we're going to hell (@angryblkhoemo) November 24, 2017
Sometimes I wish some of my favorite rappers/singers/actors/actresses wouldn't talk and simply stick to their artistry. https://t.co/Iy9fgJWiD4
— Ronald Isley (@yoyotrav) November 24, 2017
#DenzelWashington was in "Malcolm X", "Hurricane", "He Got Game", "Fences", … and now he's reading from the same Nothing-to-See-Here script everyone else has. It's not about not having a dad. Crime is need driven. Have you met America's hiring managers? How about our police? https://t.co/mO5jzE7TUG
— Your racist family isn't worth "it's just class" (@TraptInAmerica) November 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/WillPowellArt/status/934187799196119040
Denzel means well but lacks a basic understanding of how the system of white supremacy functions. He is looking at symptoms.
— andile (@Mngxitama) November 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/sheikh_rashadx/status/934237512394051587
The actor who played Malcolm X doesn’t understand what it means to be Black in America.https://t.co/HRel1rRazj https://t.co/18PDsANN2g
— BreakingBrown (Yvette Carnell)🇺🇸 (@BreakingBrown) November 25, 2017
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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