On Monday, June 1, Lori Harvey broke her silence about police brutality in a now-deleted Instagram post. Over the weekend, fans dragged the 23-year-old model for saying that Atlanta took the riots too far after SacDelux, her friends’ store, was looted. Rumors swirled that the owners intentionally had their business destroyed so they could claim their insurance benefits. While the speculation has not been confirmed, some fans insinuated that Harvey only cared about her friends’ store and dismissed the true reason behind the protest.
“Over the past week, I’ve been trying to find the right words but I’m sincerely at a loss. My entire heart goes out to the loved ones of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and every Black life taken at the hands of racism, police brutality, and racial injustice. I can’t even imagine the pain they are feeling,” she wrote.
“Saying we want justice doesn’t even feel right. True justice would mean that George, Ahmaud, and Breonna would still be here. This is not the system I want my nieces and nephews to grow up in. This is not the world I want them to live in. I know everything feels overwhelming right now but we can create the change we want to see,” she concluded. Harvey added a link in her bio to encourage fans to help with the Black Lives Matter movement by donating money to organizations for human rights and peaceful protesting.
Harvey’s message got her into a bit of hot water with some fans. Many people hinted that her post was not genuine and expressed that she only spoke out against police brutality because she was slammed for defending her friends’ store.
“She only said something cause everyone noticed she only cared when her friends shop got looted 😭.”
“It’s always “‘I have been trying to find the right words'” when they get called out 😂😂😂😂🤦🏾♀️.”
“We had to force her to type this.”
“Let me speak out since my friend’s store got vandalized 🍵.”
Harvey spoke out about police brutality nearly one week after the death of George Floyd, an African-American man in Minneapolis. On Memorial Day, a grocery store employee accused Floyd of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill and called 911. A white police office arrested and pinned him to the ground and held his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, causing him to not be able to breathe. That officer now faces charges.
