Jamie Foxx Joins SF Mayor Breed At 'Kneel-In' At City Hall To Protest George Floyd Death
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) - Actor, activist Jamie Foxx joined Mayor London Breed, faith ministers and protesters at a peaceful kneel-in in front of San Francisco City Hall Monday, to protest violence against black men and communities of color.
The actor stood shoulder to shoulder with Mayor Breed on the steps of Civic Center after a weekend of protests, some peaceful, some not, raged across the U.S., and around the globe, over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. His death was captured on video, as he was pinned under the knee of an officer for several minutes.
Bay Area social activist Felicia Jones led the event and told the kneeling crowd numbering into the hundreds, "We are kneeling for social justice."
Weekend protests in San Francisco became so agitated, authorities were forced to put the city under a curfew Sunday night, which will remain in place until further notice. Breed had strong words for outside agitators, many with racist agendas, who have turned parts of the city into piles of glass and ash.
"Black Lives Matter is nobody's joke and I'm tired of people treating it that way, don't get it twisted, it is not a joke." Mayor Breed told the cheering crowd."
She thanked the crowd for their support, adding, "For those of you who are using this movement as a way to push. violence, and to go after black people to tear us down, we will not tolerate that. Don't get it twisted, I am the mayor, but I am a black woman first."
Foxx took the stage, just three days after he flew to Minneapolis to join the chorus of anger over the Floyd's death. He recalled the Rodney King beating that sparked violent protests decades ago, in Los Angeles.
"I was there in L.A. when it was the Rodney King beating and I watched that, and I said 'Man, if they get away with this what's going to happen later?' And it continues to happen," Foxx said. "As I'm talking to my nephews, as I'm talking to my daughter, trying to telling them how to act when they're out there and they see a police officer, I'm sort of running out of things to tell them and it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be that way in America in 2020. We have to evolve."
Foxx and the mayor were joined by several ministers from San Francisco black churches, rabbis from Temple Emanu-el, and the NAACP.
