Actor and former NFL player Terry Crews doubled down on his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement Monday after two Black children were fatally shot in separate shootings in Chicago on the Fourth of July.
Natalie Wallace, 7, died after being shot in the forehead when three gunmen opened fire on a street party on Chicago’s West Side, police said. Vernado Jones Jr., 14, was fatally shot in the back during a street party on the city’s South Side, police said. In all, nine children under 18 have been killed in the city since June 20, a fact Mr. Crews chose to highlight on Twitter.
“#ALLBLACKLIVESMATTER 9 black CHILDREN killed by violence in Chicago since June 20, 2020,” the actor wrote.
Mr. Crews faced a backlash last week after he warned Black Lives Matter supporters that they “must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter.”
“If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister,” the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star tweeted June 30. “I have family of every race, creed and ideology.”
Mr. Crews doubled down on his comments on the Fourth of July, saying he chose to “die on this hill” of uniting with good people, regardless of race.
“Intelligent decision making sometime requires you to forget what you’ve lost, and evaluate the situation as it exists today,” he tweeted. “This is not the oppression Olympics.
“Are all white people bad? No. Are all black people good? No. Knowing this reality- I stand on my decision to unite with good people, no matter the race, creed or ideology,” he wrote. “Given the number of threats against this decision- I also decide to die on this hill.”
