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Former The Young and the Restless star Shemar Moore gave an interesting, to say the least, point of view on race relations in America, using his own life as a bi-racial Black man as the basis for his argument.
The discussion was caught by Moniece Slaughter, where a clip of the video appears on the blog, The Neighborhood Talk. Moore can be seen alongside the Love & Hip Hop Hollywood reality star, while she assures her fans that the two are just friends. She also says its important for them to keep their romantic relationships private to protect their peace.
But it’s Moore’s speech that had us nodding our heads in agreement and searching for clarity at the same time.
“I am half Black, and I am half white. But I am proud to be Black, but I am also proud to be white,” Moore began. “I understand what it is to be treated like a n—a when I don’t have my fame and when I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time, and nobody knows who I am. Then I’m just a n—a on the street. I’ve been thrown down on the sidewalk in my lifetime. I understand what it is. I haven’t gone through the George Floyd situation. I have not gone through that, but I know what it is. But I’m not gonna denounce the other side of me, because I’m looking at humanity. I’m looking at humanity and my mother who is white, who just passed, you know, “Sorry for your loss,” I appreciate that.
Moore’s mother Marilyn Wilson-Moore, who was white, died in February 2020 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis and heart issues.
“I lost my best friend. But my momma? If she didn’t look outside the box, I wouldn’t have life. Ok? This is a white woman from Boston in the 60’s. That was a very racist, racially-divided time. And she thought outside of the box and she met my daddy, and she made me, so without my mother thinking outside of the box, I wouldn’t have life.”
“And now that I have this life, I can’t denounce because there is good and bad on all sides. Black, white, green, or yellow,” he said.
“I understand that I am brown. I understand that I am Black. I understand that I am a n—-a, Ok? But I am not gonna denounce my momma. And if my momma was still alive, she’d say, ‘Baby, go out there and make a change. Go out there and spread positivity. Go out there and tell the truth. And I am going to tell the truth about the travesties that are going to happen, but I’m also going to try to create—give optimism. Hope. Because if we don’t have optimism and hope then what the f–k are we doing? Then there’s no tomorrow.”
The Jasmine Brand caught a separate part of the conversation where he delved further into his thought process. Moore discussed his slight discomfort with currently portraying a member of the Los Angeles Police Department on the CBS show S.W.A.T. in the current political environment.
“With my platform, I do have to go back to work and put on an LAPD uniform. And I am confused about it. I am struggling with it, because I don’t just wanna go back and just do the dance. I have to go back and tell the real story. Because George Floyd is real, and so many others before that. But what is beautiful about these protests is it is diverse because these young people out here understand that it’s the older folks that are stuck in their ways,” he said.
“I understand how bad s–t is but we have to stay optimistic, we have to stay hopeful because we will fix this. It will not fix itself over night. I don’t know how. I can’t do it by myself, she can’t do it by herself, but we collectively can do it together and that’s real,” he continued.
“These cops need to be corrected. Some of them are f—-d up, but a lot of them are good. Some of us Black people are beautiful, and some are f—-d up, white—beautiful, but some of us are fucked up. But we all bleed red….but if you go with an open mind and lead by example we gon’ change this s–t that’s happening right now.”
“I’m gonna use my platform on ‘S.W.A.T.’ with my celebrity, all that stuff. I’m going to speak on it. And I’m gonna tell Sony and CBS and my bosses that if we don’t speak on it, then they can’t f–k with me.”
While Moore clearly identifies as a Black man, he should also know that he’s not denouncing his white parent by doing so. And the argument of using there’s good and bad sides to all races doesn’t hold up when we are clearly talking about how Black people are targeted and limited in their access to equality based on their skin color.
But, the actor did say he will use his platform to highlight what’s happening to Black people in America and vowed to use influence at work to make it apparent to network executives that they should also be on the right side of history. His message, though confusing, shows that he’s in a place where he’s ready to have open conversations about where America is heading.
