January Jones usually shields her son Xander from photos, but she opted to share a photo of her 8-year-old taking part in a local protest following the death of George Floyd. Xander wore a mask with the words “Black Lives Matter” and carried a sign that read “I can't breathe”—words repeatedly said by Floyd moments before his death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
“I promise that I will always continue to talk to my child about inequality. And I promise to do all I can to learn more,” the 42-year-old actress captioned the post. “We have had many more of these necessary hard conversations over the last few days, about why people are so angry and sad.”
“For a child who didn't used to see color amongst his friends it's hard for him to understand, to understand why the past he learns about in school is still very present in our world today,” she continued. “I wanted to give him an opportunity today to do a small neighborhood protest to support his friends and feel like he's part of the progress that will hopefully happen.” Jones then urged her followers to vote in November. “If you don't vote for who is governing your city, state and country nothing will change,” she wrote.
Other celebrities, including Ariana Grande, Jamie Foxx, John Cusack, Halsey, Cole Sprouse and Emily Ratajkowsi have demonstrated in protests across the country.
Sprouse was arrested and ziptied during a protest in Santa Monica, he revealed on social media.
“Before the voracious horde of media sensationalism decides to somehow turn it about me, there’s a clear need to speak about the circumstances: Black Lives Matter. Peace, riots, looting, are an absolutely legitimate form of protest,” Sprouse wrote. “I was detained when standing in solidarity, as were many of the final vanguard within Santa Monica. We were given the option to leave, and were informed that if we did not retreat, we would be arrested. When many did turn to leave, we found another line of police officers blocking our route, at which point, they started zip tying us.”
