Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross has praised the decision by several NBA teams to strike over the Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake earlier this week.
The Milwaukee Bucks, an NBA team located around an hour outside of Kenosha, where Blake was shot, never appeared on the court for their playoff game against the Orlando Magic Wednesday night. Following the news of the Bucks’ strike, the five remaining playoff teams, including the Magic, joined them in postponing their games, with Los Angeles’ two teams, the Lakers and Clippers, voting to strike for the remainder of the season later in the day.
Ross admitted that she had just heard the news minutes before appearing virtually as a Wednesday night guest on The Late Late Show, but immediately threw her support behind the effort. “I heard it literally as I was coming on here and I say, ‘bravo,’” Ross told host James Corden. “I think this is a moment to take a stand, and the truth is it’s not just in response to Jacob.”
The multihyphenate went on to discuss why she believes political actions like voting and collective protest are necessary in this particular moment, where police shootings of Black Americans around the country have sparked ongoing protests since May.
“I think one of the most American things you can do is use your voice to make a stand. I think all of us need to,” Ross explained. “This is a moment for the collective voice of all of us saying, ‘It’s enough.’ I think we have to be honest and clear about what it is and not normalize it, and that’s one of the reasons I think the NBA using their voice in that way [is] like, ‘yes, bravo’.”
Speaking specifically to Blake’s shooting, Ross called the police violence and systemic racism Black men and women are facing during police encounters appalling, heartbreaking, infuriating, exhausting and terrifying.
“From what I understand, he pulled over to break up a fight between two people, and when the police came it was like, ‘Oh good, I can get back in the car with my children,’” Ross told Corden. “So everything about it — and this idea that even if someone is a criminal, you do not deserve to die — that’s not how this works.”
Later in her appearance, Ross noted that while things like protesting and reckoning with injustice might feel uncomfortable, that feeling “right now is a privilege” and one that people should push through to bring awareness to these issues.
“I think we talk about systemic racism and the systemic problems in this country, and I think the most American thing we can do is acknowledge that they are there and continue pursuing towards what we want this to be in a collective way,” Ross said. “If you’re going to break down the systems, then the ground is gonna feel unstable, as we need to get rid of some of these things that are not working — not for all of us, not for the most vulnerable.”
The award-winning actress spent the rest of her Late Late Show interview discussing her experience hosting the second night of the Democratic National Convention. While she called hosting “an organic and natural” step, she acknowledged that it was a significant shift from the kind of political work she had done before.
“I’m very socially active. I’m civically engaged, but I don’t normally participate in the political arena in that way and it’s a big stage with people that know what they’re talking about, for sure,” Ross said.
Ross then revealed that while hosting was an honor, writing her speech was far from easy. She pointed to her 275-word-count limit — due to her night featuring the roll call — as part of what made the experience more challenging. The actress then shared how her fellow celebrity DNC hosts helped her get through the evening and overcome her own fears about COVID-19 after having not “been out of the house quite yet.”
“I was nervous but I also my arms were linked with the other women — with Eva [Longoria] and Kerry [Washington] and Julia [Louis-Dreyfus]. We started a text thread and we really sort of had each other’s backs,” the Black-ish star said. “This is a moment to show up and to take risky behavior in the direction of being of service to the larger good.”
Watch the full segment below.
