Actor Wendell Pierce Tells the Beast Why He Shared ‘Vile’ Racist Incident
Wendell Pierce shocked everyone by revealing he was discriminated against while applying to rent an apartment. He tells The Daily Beast why he shared the deeply personal story.
www.thedailybeast.com
Tony-nominee Wendell Pierce shocked just about everyone when he tweeted on Tuesday night that he was discriminated against by a white landlord while trying to rent a Harlem apartment last year.
The star of hit shows including The Wire and Elsbeth, who earned a 2023 Tony nomination for his leading role in Broadway’s Death of a Salesman, shared the story to show that racism affects people of color no matter what their status is.
“For those of you who don’t understand my righteous anger… Even with my proof of employment, bank statements and real estate holdings, a white apartment owner DENIED my application to rent the apartment… in Harlem, of all places,” Pierce wrote. “Racism and bigots are real. There are those who will do anything to destroy life’s journey for Black folks. When you deny our personal experiences, you are as vile and despicable.”
His followers were overwhelmingly shocked that a man as successful as Pierce was still subject to Jim Crow-era treatment.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Pierce said that he was moved to share the deeply personal story after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court’s decision and sided with the American Alliance for Equal Rights against the Fearless Fund. The ruling essentially blocked the fund from awarding grants to Black women-owned businesses in the Atlanta-area, saying it would “inflict irreparable injury.”
Pierce said he shared his story to show a “personal example of how destructive and insidious bigotry and racism are, and how it is memorialized into what institutionalized racism is.”
He said the whole move to block the investment firm reminded him of a phrase from the Civil Rights Movement.
“When evil people plot, good people plan,” Pierce told The Daily Beast. “It was a call to action for me. It infuriated me, but I realized that that meant nothing if I didn’t try to shed light on it, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
The law was put in place to protect former slaves from discrimination. Edward Blum, an opponent of affirmative action, has argued its text means that race can’t be considered at all in contractual relationships,” Pierce wrote on X. “Private funding blocked by the courts. NOT TAX DOLLARS.
“Private investment into Black businesses being blocked with laws in place to prevent discrimination against Black businesses. The racist irony,” Pierce added. “Racist, bigoted, fascist Americans who burned down Black Wall Street in Tulsa 100 years ago are still alive and well.”
“It makes me sick motherfukker how far you will go to destroy our ability to live our lives in peace and prosperity,” he said. “Attacked in schools, attacked by police, attacked for expecting to live the stated values of this country, and attacked when successful in business. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. For generations we have embraced that lie as the violence against our community proves otherwise. It’s getting harder to stay in denial, America.”
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