Chili of TLC Fame Takes a Stand for Black Lives Matter

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Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas with TLC perform at Philips Arena on the Main Event tour on Saturday, June 6, 2015, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb D. Cohen/Invision/AP)
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With the continuation of police involved shootings of Black men, which most recently concerned the slaying of 15-year old Jordan Edwards in Texas, making headlines, it isn’t uncommon for celebrities to be asked their position on the Black Lives Matter movement that has arisen to stand up against police brutality over the past several years. Such was the case for the two remaining members of TLC during an interview in the UK on Tuesday, May 9, when the channel 4 reporter facilitating their chat inquired into their position on the movement.

T-Boz fell back for the political portion of the segment, but Chilli didn’t shy away, expressing a disdain for police violence, but also making it clear that she doesn’t necessarily see it as an issue of race.

“For me, all lives matter,” the 46-year-old singer said. “With the police brutality against these young Black boys and stuff like that. All of that kind of stuff is wrong. Even if it was a Caucasian teen kid that this was happening to, it’s just not right.”

While her response projected that she genuinely saw abuse in law enforcement as an issue, her usage of the “all lives matter” mantra has sparked up disdain from the many who view an all lives matter perspective as dismissive towards what is seen as more of an institutional problem for Black communities, than an issue of isolated incidents. In giving further context, Chilli mentioned that all groups have been targeted for one thing or another, therefore emphasizing the singular act of violence by an officer as the evil, regardless of the victim.

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