Natalie Portman endorses ‘Defund the Police’ movement

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman joined other celebrities on Tuesday to endorse the “Defund Police” movement, which calls for money intended for police departments to be diverted to social services programs instead.

“When I first heard #defundthepolice, I have to admit my first reaction was fear,” Portman wrote on Instagram

“My whole life, police have made me feel safe. But that’s exactly the center of my white privilege: the police make me as a white woman feel safe, while my black friends, family and neighbors feel the opposite: police make them feel terror.”

“Police are the 6th leading cause of death for black men in this country. These are not isolated incidents. They are patterns and part of the system of over-policing of black Americans,” she wrote.

Portman then thanked the Black Lives Matter movement for helping her envision what a world could look like if money was invested in social programs instead of being used for “punishment.”

“I’ve gotten to the age in my life where if my gut feels uncomfortable, I take the situation as wrong. But this concept initially made me uncomfortable because I was wrong. Because the system that makes me feel comfortable is wrong,” Portman concluded.

Portman also joined a slew of celebrities, such as singer John Legend and actresses America Ferrera and Brie Larson, in signing a petition calling for local governments to defund the police, reports Rolling Stone.

The petition written on June 3 by Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors calls for all signees to encourage their local officials to “Vote no on all increases to police budgets, vote yes to decrease police spending and budgets, and vote yes to increase spending on health care, education, and community programs.”