Actor Isaiah Washington took to Facebook to encourage African-Americans to boycott work, school, and shopping for 24 hours in an effort to show that black lives matter.
“No work. No school. No shopping for 24 hours,” the former Grey’s Anatomy star wrote on Facebook. “Imagine if every single African American in the United States that was really fed up with being angry, sad and disgusted, would pick ONE DAY to simply ‘stay at home’ from every single job, work site, sports arena and government office in the United States of America. I’m very sure that within 72 hours from Wall Street to the NFL…Black Lives Would Matter. September 26, 2016 is THE DAY.”
Washington's suggested boycott is set for the same day as the first presidential debate of 2016, which is expected to draw a large audience Monday.
In Washington’s Facebook post, he used hashtags like #RIPTerenceCrutcher and #HandsUpDontShoot. Crutcher, who was 40 years old, was shot and killed by police in Tulsa on Sept. 16 after his SUV stalled on the highway, USA Today noted.
Video footage later surfaced, showing Crutcher with his hands up walking back to his SUV while being confronted by several police officers. Crutcher’s name became a trending topic on social media.
In a subsequent Facebook post, Washington said the aim of the boycott is to “maintain the safety of our people, while significantly impacting America’s broken judicial system that is oppressing us by removing our labor, our bodies and our money from it…for 24 hours.”
Washington also posted on Facebook that CNN’s Hazel Pfeifer reached out to him for an interview, but he declined, saying that he doesn’t plan on talking to the media “until the People of America give me a ‘reason’ to.”
Washington’s suggestion for a boycott received a lot of support on Twitter with people taking to their personal accounts and using the hashtag #StayHomeSeptember262016.
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