Anna Kendrick Opens Up About ‘Moving & Meaningful’ Experience At Black Lives Matter Protest
Anna Kendrick made a virtual appearance on the Thursday edition of The Late Late Show with James Corden, per E! Online. During her interview, Kendrick told Corden about her experience attending a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles earlier in the week. Protests have taken place across the United States in response to the death of George Floyd. While some of the protests have resulted in violence by both protesters and law enforcement, Kendrick described her experience as “wonderful.”
“My experience was really positive. It was really moving and meaningful. And I found it to be totally peaceful. And I had been nervous about going because, you know, there has been violence, but it was so wonderful.”
Kendrick said that she didn’t attend the entirety of the protest and left after a few hours. Her decision to leave came at the perfect time, as Kendrick told Corden the peacefulness was broken barely 20 minutes later. The actress said that when she looked for updates on the protest online after returning home, she discovered that rubber bullets had been fired. Not soon after that, she saw reports that a police car had been set on fire.
“And at first, I honestly thought that that’s a mistake, like, that can’t be true; I was just there. So, it is really a confusing time to have been there and been like—you know when a situation is escalating and things are about to go crazy and the situation feels fraught. And it just wasn’t that.”
Along with taking part in protests, Kendrick said that she was also taking the time to educate herself on the black experience. Despite growing up watching films such as Mississippi Burning and To Kill A Mockingbird in addition to reading books written by Bell Hooks, Kendrick admitted that she needed to take more opportunities to deepen her understanding of race. She told Corden that her family has begun to watch films such as I’m Not Your Negro — a documentary on the novelist and activist James Baldwin — for their remote movie nights instead of the usual selections that include Disney films and 80’s classics. She told Corden that they plan to watch 13th — a 2016 documentary on racial inequality — next.
Elsewhere in the show’s “Show & Tell” segment, Kendrick displayed the extent of her Harry Potter fandom. She showed off her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard that was signed by J.K. Rowling. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is very popular among Potter fans after first being referenced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Kendrick said that she has kept the book on display in her home since receiving it as a gift, but no one had ever asked her about it before.
