The protests in America continue. After the death of George Floyd, who died last week after a police arrest, the issue of racism once again dominated public life in the United States. From Barack Obama (58) to Beyonce (38) and Rihanna (32) to Arnold Schwarzenegger (72): on social media, the celebrities share their anger about what's going on. And on Facebook itself, the staff keep their distance from Mark Zuckerberg. This is what the protest says.
Peaceful protest
The majority of people in the United States demonstrate peacefully, such as one shared on Twitter and viewed several million times Watch video is. There is no thought of "social distancing" on the pictures from Minneapolis, but the majority of the demonstrators wear masks. This form of protest has received great support, including from numerous celebrities.
Barack Obama, for example, shared a video on Friday in which twelve-year-old Keedron Bryant emotionally sings about the experiences and everyday life of colored people in the United States. The former president writes: "All of this shouldn't be 'normal' in America in 2020. It shouldn't be 'normal'. If our children are to grow up in a nation that meets their highest standards, we can and must be better. "
Stars like Rihanna or Beyonce find less diplomatic words to let their emotions run wild. Rihanna posted a photo of George Floyd on Instagram and took a breath in the accompanying text: "The extent of my despair, anger and sadness in the past few days has been overwhelming. (…) I can't shake it off." Beyonce also calls in a video to sign a petition and calls for "Justice for George Floyd".
Fronts are hardened
Many other stars such as Justin Bieber, Chris Hemsworth, Oprah Winfrey, Naomi Campbell, Pink, Elton John, Heidi Klum, Robbie Williams, Selena Gomez, Jamie Foxx, Greta Thunberg, Snoop Dogg, Kim Kardashian, Kristen Bell, Pharell Williams, Jay -Z, Kaley Cuoco and Nick Carter comment critically on what has happened in the US and continues to do so during the protests on social media.
Meanwhile, another celebrity takes the opposite position: President Donald Trump (73). Chaos seems to suit him and he not only takes up rhetoric from the 1960s, he explains via Twitter On top of that, Antifa is guilty of the protests and announces that it plans to classify it as a terrorist organization in the United States.
Facebook employees against their boss
After Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg (36) said during the week that social media should not interfere in the rating of shared content, some senior employees of the company are apparently now confronting this view. Directors of product design and management Ryan Freitag and Jason Toff shared via Twitter with: "Mark is wrong!" and "I'm not proud of how we appear on Facebook. The majority of my colleagues feel the same way."
Streaming services show solidarity
Many states in the United States had curfews for the night from Saturday to Sunday. Because they were disregarded all over the country, the police and national guards acted violently against demonstrators in some places. In an unprecedented wave of solidarity, they also experience this from large companies like Netflix, Disney, Amazon, YouTube or Hulu encouragement and support.