January Jones took to Instagram on Monday to share a photo of her 8-year-old son, Xander, taking part in a local protest.
The rare photo of the child showed Xander wearing a mask with the words “Black Lives Matter” written across the front. He also carried a sign that read “I can’t breathe”—words repeatedly said by George 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 concluded.
After Floyd was killed on May 25, Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, was fired from the Minneapolis Police Department and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
“E! stands in solidarity with the black community against systemic racism and oppression experienced every day in America,” the network said in a statement on May 31. “We owe it to our black staff, talent, production partners and viewers to demand change and accountability. To be silent is to be complicit. #BlackLivesMatter.”
