Legendary American actor Morgan Freeman, while talking about his recent film “The Killing Of Kenneth Chamberlain,” took the opportunity to express that he rejects the notion of “defunding the police.”
“They’re going about their day-to-day jobs,” he said. “I know some policemen who would never even pull their guns, except on a range.”
Freeman’s latest film, “The Killing Of Kenneth Chamberlain,” is about the real fatal police shooting of an elderly black Marine vet with bipolar disorder in his home in White Plains, New York.
Co-star Frankie Faison, playing Chamberlain, aligned with Freeman’s stance on police defunding while pointing out a discrepancy.
“We as entertainment, people in the arts, we’re treated a little differently by law enforcement than people who are just ordinary walks of life,” he told Hill. “I would like for that to stop; I want us all to be treated equally.”
While rejecting defunding, Freeman put his money where his mouth is to promote police reform, a movement he supports.
In June, alongside University of Mississippi criminal justice professor Linda Keena, the actor donated $1 million to the university’s School of Applied Sciences for a research and specialized training center: the Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform.
“I often talk to police officers when I see them out and ask how they would do their work if they didn’t have guns,” he added. “Support of this center is about finding ways to help officers, and arrive at solutions.”
Keena agreed, “The goal should be to give officers as many tools as possible to do their jobs more effectively.”
