On Good Morning America Thursday, Annie star Jamie Foxx spoke about recent Ferguson and Eric Garner grand jury decisions, saying: “It’s time to start healing.” At a later press conference for the new film, Foxx further explained how these events have affected him personally and addressed how we as a country can move forward.
The Academy Award winner recalled getting stopped by a police officer in his neighborhood recently: “[The cop] was yelling at me at the top of his lungs. As if I was a piece of whatever. He said, ’I know who you are, I don’t give a —’ and I said, ’I’m the good guy.'”
Foxx admits to being treated unfairly by the cop, but knows that as a nation we have to move forward and have the “uncomfortable conversation” about race. “I can say, as a black man, that I fear certain cops when I’m pulled over. I’m afraid of them, and I’m successful,” Foxx said. “Can a cop say, ’I’m afraid of black people’? I don’t know if that’s possible. I think that’s going to have to be the conversation that we have in order to get there.”
Foxx isn’t alone. Chris Rock and other stars have sounded off on Ferguson, the Eric Garner decision, and racism in the U.S., as discussed this morning by The Gossip Table:
[Photo Credit: Getty]