Earlier this month, Danny Glover joined Bernie Sanders, NAACP President Cornell Brooks and United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams numerous other protesters at pro-union rally close to Nissan Motor Co.’s plant in Canton, Mississippi.
Organized by a coalition of civil rights leaders, ministers, and workers’ advocates, the protest was in response to civil rights abuse allegations against the automotive company.
In speaking with The Grio during the rally, the actor-activist shared his thoughts on how Americans should mobilize and build coalitions to fight for civil rights during President Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Whenever we have a challenge as we have right now with this presidency there is great opportunity here, to talk about the issues, to build networks, to build coalitions, to take what we mean by progressivism to another level,” he said.
Glover, who previously stated that it was “irresponsible” of Time magazine to name Trump as 2016’s Person of the Year, went on to cite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a model to unify America.
“He talked about building another community, another sense of ourselves as citizens,” he said. “How do we become citizens in the face of this challenge? That is important. How do we create the America that we want to envision? The America that fights for the rights of women, LGBTQ, workers, immigrants, all of us, those who are being discriminated against, how do we become all of that?”
Glover also posed the question of how American citizens should reshape their views in light of climate-related issues, such as global warming, taking precedence in society.
“What are we changing, when a society that King talked about and was concerned about becomes more about things than who we are as human beings,” he said. “How do we reshape this image of ourselves? Because one thing that’s gonna trump all that we talked about somewhere down the line is global warming and climate change.”
He continued, “What are talking about in terms of war and conflict, materialism, racism — the center of it is racism. Whether that’s racism that found its way in colonialism, slavery or racism now.
Read more of Danny Glover’s interview here.
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