Watch Travon Free Address Police Brutality in Oscars Speech
Travon Free Calls Out Police Brutality in Oscars Speech: "Don't Be Indifferent to Our Pain"
Travon Free took his year's Oscars as an opportunity to call out police brutality and honour those who've lost their lives to it. While accepting the award for best live-action short film alongside his Two Distant Strangers co-director Martin Desmond Roe, the writer and comedian began his speech by sharing some harrowing statistics. "Today the police will kill three people, and tomorrow the police will kill three people, and the day after that, the police will kill three people because on average, the police in America kill three people, which amounts to about 1,000 people a year," Free said. He also quoted the late James Baldwin, stating, "The most despicable thing a person can be is indifferent to other people's pain," imploring viewers, "I just ask that you please not be indifferent."
Free also made a powerful statement on the Oscars red carpet, wearing a jacket lined with the names of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and others killed by police in the United States. Read ahead to take a closer look at Free's jacket and to see more photos of him and his fellow filmmaker having the best time on the Oscars red carpet.
