America finds itself in a state of well-earned unrest tonight, as people outraged by the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd—which occurred on May 25, 2020, roughly 8 minutes and 45 seconds after police officer Derek Chauvin began kneeling on his neck—continued streaming onto the pandemic-shuttered streets of a number of cities, leading to sometimes-violent clashes with police, and much hand-wringing amongst the “Won’t people think of the Target stores!” set. And if you need a quick, go-to reference for how far America’s citizens have been pushed, not just by the never-not-present reality of police brutality against Black Americans, but also by all the people more concerned by property destruction than the death of a man in police custody, well, how about this: Not even LeVar Burton, notoriously nice human being, is fucking around with this shit anymore.
There’s a danger, when talking about someone who’s devoted as much of his life to children’s education and entertainment as Burton has, to engage in a bit of infantilization when describing his acts of kindness. But the Roots and Star Trek actor really does seem to be a very nice person, devoting most of his time lately to raising money for COVID-19 relief, interacting with fans he’s helped teach to love reading (whether through Reading Rainbow or his LeVar Burton Reads podcast), and just generally trying to be a conscientious, helpful person. But even conscientious, helpful people have limits. Burton—who tweeted earlier tonight about his disgust and anger at the double-standards Black Americans are held to when police cruelty inevitably begets public protest—has apparently reached his.