Various members of Black Hollywood gathered outside Los Angeles City Hall in California July 17, joining #OccupyCityHall and the Black Lives Matter movements. Meagan Good and her husband DeVon Franklin were in attendance. Other notable celebrities included Tina Knowles-Lawson, Terrence Jenkins, Boris Kodjoe and Marlon Wayans. The protest was promoted on social media, and Good shared a video of Franklin speaking at the event.
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“Today we occupied LA City Hall & stood alongside Black Lives Matter in solidarity against all of the devastating killings that have taken place &continue to take place,” Good wrote on Instagram.
“I participated as a way to be part of producing a peaceful solution to the debilitating violence impacting our country,” Franklin told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. “The bridge between the community, law enforcement and Hollywood is critical and we just want to help bring awareness to the issues and highlight productive solutions that can bring about the peace we all desperately need right now.”
#OccupyCityHall was launched in response to the July 12 decision by the Los Angeles Police Commission that the death of Redel Jones was “in policy,” according to the Jasmine Brand. Jones was fatally shot last year in a South Los Angeles alley after police claim she approached them with a knife. The victim allegedly matched the description of a female Black robbery suspect.
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The Associated Press reports more than 100 protesters marched from LA police headquarters to city hall. Officers denied entry upon their arrival. The effort has been ongoing.
Omar Epps and wife Keisha; Kendrick Sampson; Affion Crockett; Eva Marcille; Nicole Ari Parker; Francis Fisher; Logan Browning; Kimberly Elise; and Lance Gross and were other celebrities who showed their support over the weekend.
Elise – who with Terrence J participated in rapper The Game’s secret Black Hollywood meeting July 14 to change race relations – shared an image of her with Lisa Hines. Hines is the mother of Wakiesha Wilson, who was found dead hanging in her jail cell in March.
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Sunday’s gathering to end violence against the Black community follows Game’s meeting where he signed a peace treaty to end gang violence in LA.
