George Clooney is encouraging all Americans to vote in order to fight against systemic racism.
The 59-year-old actor wrote an essay about the nationwide protests going on in the aftermath of 46-year-old Minneapolis man George Floyd's tragic death in Minnesota -- after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over eight minutes -- that The Daily Beast published on Monday. Clooney wrote that America's greatest pandemic is racism, calling out the constant fight against police brutality when it comes to black citizens.
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"How many times have we seen people of color killed by police?" he writes. "Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Laquan McDonald. There is little doubt that George Floyd was murdered. We watched as he took his last breath at the hands of four police officers. Now we see another defiant reaction to the systemic cruel treatment of a portion of our citizens like we saw in 1968, 1992, and 2014."
"We don't know when these protests will subside," he continues. "We hope and pray that no one else will be killed. But we also know that very little will change."
Clooney said fundamental changes need to be made in both law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
"The anger and the frustration we see playing out once again in our streets is just a reminder of how little we've grown as a country from our original sin of slavery," he writes. "The fact that we aren't actually buying and selling other human beings anymore is not a badge of honor. We need systemic change in our law enforcement and in our criminal justice system. ... This is our pandemic. It infects all of us, and in 400 years we've yet to find a vaccine."
Clooney also took a dig at President Donald Trump, calling out his controversial tweets amid the protests, one which read, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
"We need policymakers and politicians that reflect basic fairness to all of their citizens equally," he writes. "Not leaders that stoke hatred and violence as if the idea of shooting looters could ever be anything less than a racial dog whistle."
"So this week, as we're wondering what it’s going to take to fix these seemingly insurmountable problems, just remember we created these issues so we can fix them," he concludes. "And there is only one way in this country to bring lasting change: Vote."
Clooney is, of course, not the only celeb passionately speaking out as the protests continue. Watch the video below to see Beyonce, Billie Eilish and more react to the death of Floyd.
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