By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
The other day actress Keke Palmer found herself the target of controversy after she tweeted about Mike Brown’s murder. Although her overall message was a push for peace between all races, she made a lot of people furious after she boldly stated that MLK’s dream came true and black people shouldn’t allow Mike Brown’s death to cause anger within the black community.
However, Keke is taking things further than just tweeting and making Instagram videos. The other day she went to Ferguson with her mother to join the protests, and experienced firsthand the harsh treatment by the hands of the Ferguson Police Department.
She writes via her Instagram account:
God bless this woman right here! I met her out here in Ferguson tonight, & she was telling me about her violent run in with the police not too long ago. She was in an accident & called the police, & allegedly THIS is what SHE was put through. She was out here PEACEFULLY protesting, and after they threw tear gas at us, my mom was shot in the neck with pellets, they shot at us with REAL guns(a young man actually got hit), she came back & picked my mom, my friend & I up & took us home. God bless you sister & thank you! When you’re peaceful you play as a mirror to people’s wrong actions, instead of a distraction.
So did Keke’s views change since her trip to Ferguson? Although the actress stated on Twitter that non violence is necessary at times like this, she posted the following to her Instagram account after her trip to Ferguson:
So a new black gets a wake up call. Sounds about right.
They always do.
Well at least she actually went to Ferguson. I’ll give her that.
They dragged her on Twitter earlier because one day of the protests she wore heels and a mini skirt. They were really going in too.
Seriously? That’s pretty childish when most of the people calling her out aren’t even showing up themselves.
People always change their tune when they experience things firsthand.
Real talk.
Kudos for educating herself and actually going to Ground Zero in order to make it happen. Major side eye for those stupid, nonsensical, illiterate tweets in the first damn place!
I won’t criticize her when she actually participated in the protests.
At least she humbled herself and went down there. So many people want to get on their soapboxes and refuse to admit they are wrong.
This.
This won’t make me forget those dumb a-s tweets, but kudos to her anyway.
lmao
J.Cole was in Ferguson also.
Love him.
Phaedra was there with his Mom too!
Lookin fine as ever. But no seriously. Anyone hear the song he did “Be Free”? Really nice song. From what I’ve read about his visit he walked though the crowds & talked w & hugged ppl. Really didn’t want any photo ops, a lot of them he turned down out of respect. I like J. Cole but I REALLY like him now.
I love that she is trying to redeem herself. Good job Keke.
Nice.
Good for her.
Good for her. Maybe this has chipped away at her naiveté about what’s really going on in the black community.
Very mature of her.
I approve.
Well at least she came and got involved and actually DID something. So many people talkin sh*t and criticizing her for the tweets but are the same exact “black” people who WON’T DO sh*t to get their hands involved in making a difference so situations like this can stop happening to our people.