The reason I’m in entertainment is because I believe in its transformative power. The power to inspire, the power to incite, the power to challenge.
That said, change doesn’t happen by sitting by and we have a commitment to the next generation as a duty to pay for those who fought, bled, and died to get us to where we are today. I’ve seen and experienced far too many instances of systemic racism in my life, in this business and out of it, to merely watch from the sidelines and if there’s something I can do to make it better but I don’t, then I don’t deserve whatever platform I may have.
As such, even though I’m not really a photographer I’ve been shooting stills all week at protests. Below are some of my shots from the entertainment industry protest yesterday, where we marched from the ICM headquarters in Century City to the Beverly Hills Police Department, the Black Lives Matter protest in Downtown LA on Wednesday, where we protested outside of City Hall and the Hall of Justice, as well as a third protest in Santa Monica.
Michael B. Jordan at Black Lives Matter demonstration Saturday in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Actress Alexi Underwood speaks in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
The crowd demonstrates on the steps of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Actress Meagan Good speaks in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Thandiwe Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard, speaks in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Janaya “Future” Kahn cries out
Kendrick Sampson of BLD PWR
The crowd marches in downtown L.A. (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Anthony Anderson speaks (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Protesters in downtown L.A. (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Kaylah Brown speaks in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Jesse Romero, Sr. (father of #JesseRomero)
Helen Jones (mother of #JohnHorton)
A protester in DTLA (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Johnny Weber (brother of #AJWeber)
Helen Jones (mother of #JohnHorton)
A young protester in DTLA (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
A protester in DTLA (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Lisa Hines (mother of #WakieshaWilson)
A young protester in downtown L.A. (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
The crowd in downtown Los Angeles (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Members of the National Guard and the LAPD in front of the Hall of Justice in downtown L.A.
Dr. Melina Abdullah of BLMLA and chair of the Pan-African Studies at California State University
Producer Brian Grazer joins the protest in Santa Monica on Sunday May 31 (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Protesters march in Santa Monica (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
A protester approaches the police in Santa Monica to ask for relief to continue the protest past curfew (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
The crowd marches in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver)
Molly Watson of Courage California speaks in Century City (Photo by Tommy Oliver
