Actor Shameik Moore has been slammed for suggesting the Black community should stop "blaming" police brutality on racism.
The conversation surrounding racially-driven police brutality in the U.S. has been rife after footage emerged showing African-American man George Floyd being knelt on at the neck by an officer on Monday night. Floyd later died in hospital, with the news outraging thousands of people online and leading to the dismissals of the cops involved.
While the majority of social media users have been calling for institutional change, Moore, who voiced the Marvel superhero in 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, embarked on a lengthy Twitter thread in which he attempted to advise his followers how best to "avoid" being killed by police officers.
"We have to work on our community before blaming everything on 'racist' and police," Moore tweeted. "1... there is STILL black on black violence that needs to be addressed... and 2.. if we KNOW that the wrong white person could change our whole life with a false accusation. WHY DO WE GIVE THEM THE ENERGY THEY WANT?"
He continued: "Give them an inch they WILL take a mile..... We literally know this already. At what point do we look at ourselves and make adjustments? Look... all I'm saying is.. in the MOMENT.. when we are experiencing racism.. can We the black community find ways to avoid being killed? Or hunted (sic)."
After facing criticism for his tweets, Moore claimed he "refuses to feel like a victim" or "have a slave mentality". He also said that he does not face danger in his daily life as he "knows how to carry (himself) in tuff (sic) situations".
Arguing that his tweets had been "taken out of context", the 25-year-old then went on Instagram Live, where he appeared to suggest Black people should use their "resources" rather than protest.
As an example, he claimed that civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks could have used other means of transport rather than a bus, insisting, "What we don't know as a black community is, (there were) black-owned taxi cabs and black buses that could have been used during that time. This is something a lot of people might not want to hear."
He concluded: "What I'm getting to with that is if the government decides to... shut off electricity, clean water and gas to any of the black neighbourhoods in America, there is literally nothing we can do but riot. We don't have the resources. I think what we need to do is work internally and strengthen our minds and spirits."
