Black actors Justice Smith and Nicholas Ashe both came out in Smith’s recent Instagram post about the importance of including queer and transgender people in the Black Lives Matter movement. The two actors are a couple.
Justice — a 24-year-old actor who appeared in the movies Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Detective Pikachu as well as the Baz Luhrmann disco TV drama The Get Down — wrote that he protested in New Orleans, Louisiana this weekend.
Related: Here’s how to support the fight for Black lives even if you can’t protest in person
While chanting, “Black Trans Lives Matter, Black Queer Lives Matter, All Black Lives Matter,” Justice wrote, “As a black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added.”
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
“It is in our conditioning to get as close to whiteness, straightness, maleness as we can because that’s where the power is,” he continued. “And if we appeal to it, maybe it’ll give us a slice. But the revolution is not about appeal. It is about demanding what should have been given to us from the beginning.”
In his post, Justice mentioned Tony McDade, a black transgender man who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Florida on May 27. The officer allegedly began shooting while McDade exited his car. Justice said that any “revolution” that excludes Black queer voices is inherently anti-Black.
“You are trying to push yourself through the door of a system designed against you, and then shut the door behind you. What should have been given to black, queer, and trans individuals from the beginning. Which is the right to exist. To live and prosper in public. Without fear of persecution or threat of violence.”
Justice then added some images of himself and Ashe, a 25-year-old actor best known for appearing on the female-directed Black drama series Queen Sugar, in order to show some “#blackboyjoy” and “#blackqueerlove” amid the “tragedy” Justice had recently posted on his Instagram page.
“You’ve been my rock and guiding light through all of this and I love you so much,” Justice wrote. “I know that on the other side of this Is change, though the fight is far from over.”
Here is Justice’s Instagram post in which he came out.
