Mustafa Ali is once again using his experience as a former police officer and his platform as a WWE Superstar to speak out against racial inequality and social injustice.
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, many protests have sprung up all across the globe in the name of ending systemic racism and racial inequality. In addition to this, many celebrities have taken to their platforms to speak out against issues that trouble them and raise awareness of issues that they hold near and dear to their heart.
Mustafa Ali has already spoken briefly about his decision to become a police officer to help change the system from inside but is now elaborating further on what he feels is the true root of the problem and why police reform wouldn't be enough to solve the crisis.
“The system is not designed to help people. It’s designed to hunt people,” Ali tells Sports Illustrated. “The earliest forms of the police department in this country were put together to capture runaway slaves. So the system is doing exactly what it’s meant to do. It’s not here to help anyone, it’s here to hunt them. The Black Lives Matter movement isn’t something that happened overnight. It’s not something over one Black man being murdered. This is 400 years of getting shoved and hit and kicked and spit on and murdered and raped, insulted and degraded, and killed. This is 400 years of that. The Black Lives Matter movement is essential to the survival of every Black man and woman in this country. Yeah, there’s going to be that permanent scar there and the only way to really repair that relationship is massive change and yes, it starts with the police.”
He continues, “People are talking about bringing reform to the police department as a potential solution to this crisis, but I’m here to tell you that is not the solution because it’s not the root of the problem. The criminal justice system is designed to profit off of arresting Black people. Every time I went to court, it was filled with Black people. There was one white guy there for domestic battery, but everyone else was Black and they were arrested for traffic, retail theft, warrants, etc. Every single person, every single month. The entire courtroom was filled with Black people. The reason is because the criminal justice system profits off arresting people. Look at the private prison industry. It makes millions every year off of what? Arresting, detaining, and putting Black people in custody.
“So when you have a criminal justice system that is designed to profit off of people getting arrested, and when you have a prison industry that is designed to profit off people getting arrested and incarcerated, what are the police going to do? They’re going to arrest people because it’s profitable. So it’s not police reform, it’s not just the criminal justice system, it’s the entire economic structure behind it.”
Elsewhere in WWE, The New Day have shared their candid thoughts on the global unrest. Most recently, they kneeled in the ring on an episode of SmackDown and raised a fist in solidarity. You can learn more about that at this link.
