Anthony Mackie: “People are just tired of being bombarded with race right now”

Actor Anthony Mackie sat down with the Grio to discuss his latest film, Black or White. The conversation went down a strange path when discussing Selma, the Oscars, and racial profiling.

Mackie said that Selma didn’t fair well at the box office nor during Oscar nominations because, “People are just tired of being bombarded with race right now. So everybody is shying away from certain topics and certain movies.”

That’s not the only odd thing Mackie said. On the topic of racial profiling, he turned to a conversation he had with his nephew.

“Like my nephew wanted to grow dreadlocks. I’m like fine, I’ll sit you down and I’ll watch The First 48 with you and everybody you see on that show, that’s doing something wrong, they’re black dudes with dreadlocks. So, do you want to be seen as part of the problem or do you want to be an individual?”

He went on to say:

“Let’s just say you have locks and you walking down the street. The police pull you over and say you fit the description of somebody.  You start yelling and arguing with the cops. Next thing you know you pressed up against the wall going to jail for something you’re not even involved in just because you look like somebody and you don’t know how to handle yourself,” Mackie said.

Read more at the Grio

Photo: Anthony Mackie/Facebook