January Jones Shares Rare Photo of Son, 8½, Participating in 'Neighborhood Protest' for Equality
"I will always continue to talk to my child about inequality," January Jones captioned the photo of Xander holding a sign reading, "I CAN'T BREATHE"
January Jones' son Xander Dane is doing his part to speak out in support of equality.
On Monday, the former Mad Men actress posted a photo of her 8½-year-old child in the wake of George Floyd's homicide, wearing a mask that read "BLACK LIVES MATTER" as he participated in a neighborhood protest.
Xander also held up a sign reading, "I CAN'T BREATHE" — a reference to the 46-year-old truck driver's repeated cries after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground for several minutes with a knee on the unarmed man's neck.
"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," Jones, 42, began her caption. "We have had many more of these necessary hard conversations over the last few days, about why people are so angry and sad."
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The star went on to say that for Xander, "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" and that he "didn't used to see color amongst his friends."
"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 added.
She concluded her post by urging her followers to "please vote in Nov. If you don't vote for who is governing your city, state and country nothing will change. ❤️"
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In a report released Monday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner listed Floyd's cause of death as a homicide — specifically, "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." It also said he "experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s)."
Chauvin, the officer who pinned Floyd to the ground, has been charged with third-degree murder, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. He and the three other officers present were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department last week. Floyd's family is seeking a first-degree murder charge to be filed against Chauvin.
Xander is one of many celebrity children whose parents have spoken out about how they are planning to discuss the events given the harrowing events transpiring, including Ciara, Reese Witherspoon, Katherine Heigl and Thomas Rhett.
To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:
- Campaign Zero (joincampaignzero.org) which works to end police brutality in America through research-proven strategies.
- ColorofChange.org works to make government more responsive to racial disparities.
- National Cares Mentoring Movement (caresmentoring.org) provides social and academic support to help black youth succeed in college and beyond.