‘Sleepy Hollow’ star Orlando Jones co-opts the Ice Bucket Challenge to reverse the hate resulting from Ferguson.
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ALS launched its Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness of—and funds to cure—a deadly disease. It quickly went viral and to date has brought in over $40 million. It also became a meme when Orlando Jones, principal actor in Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow” television series, poured a bucket of bullets over his head and challenged everyone, including himself, to reverse the hate and come together around the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
The video was picked up tonight by The New York Times, and Jones also posted it on his Tumblr where he wrote the following:
This is a very serious disease* so I gladly accept the “bucket challenge”
*My heart goes out to all those who struggle with ALS but I am, of course, talking about the disease of apathy. If (and hopefully when) Michael Brown’s killer is brought to justice and convicted of 1st degree murder, it still won’t prevent this from happening again. We cannot accept this as the status quo. We MUST continue the fight at the ballot box, in the media and by working to create systemic change. I’m not naive to the dirty politics (redistricting, voter ID requirements, etc) that will try to prevent us from our goal. But I refuse to give up hope. My “bullet bucket challenge” is not about pointing fingers and it’s not about being angry. Every shell casing in that bucket represents the life of someone who fought and died in the goal for civil rights and human dignity. As a member of law enforcement (yes I really am a reserve sheriff) I will not stand idly by while others violate civil and human rights under the cover of authority and I will insist that other good cops rise to the same standard as well. As a black man I will demand more from myself and my community. I will not allow outsiders to co-opt our struggle in order to commit violence in our name. I’m channeling my outrage into action so I no longer feel powerless. It’s not about black or white. It’s not about rich or poor. It’s about us vs. them. There are more of us — from all races, genders and identities — then there will ever be of them. And we will be victorious.
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At the end of the video, Jones challenges us to “listen without prejudice, to love without limits, and to reverse the hate.”
I, for one, accept.
If you do, too, please share this video and the message that we are all one people, equally possessed of human dignity, and equally deserving of respectful treatment.
Photo—Orlando Jones/YouTube