During Shadow And Act’s Locked Down With __  Facebook Live with The High Note star Tracee Ellis Ross, she opened up about how she’s been feeling regarding the murder of George Floyd by the hands of the Minneapolis, MN, police, as well as the string of police brutality cases and armed citizen cases that have claimed the lives of Black people such as Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

I woke up this morning like so many of us in this collective grief that we’re feeling, this sadness, heartbreak, outrage,” she said. Often when I meditate in the morning…sometimes when I can’t still and quiet my mind, which I couldn’t today because it was inundated with imagery and reality that felt turbulent, one of the things I ask myself when I can’t settle is what do I have need of. And the thought I had was that I wanted to find light and brightness and how do you hold complex truths, conflicting feelings at the same time.”

She talked about the conflicting feelings she has been dealing with as she juggles her grief with her excitement for her film’s digital premiere. Some of those feelings were shown in her latest Instagram post, which she also brought up during the live.

I thought I was going to wake up excited because tonight is the premiere of my first leading role in a film, but instead I’m inundated with such a heavy heart like so many of us, we’re in this complexity of what life brings and we’re already in a surreal time with this pandemic,” she said. “So the thought I had [about connecting to others], I shared on my Instagram page [and] that those feelings came out of my morning meditation and my desire to be connected into the brightness of us, of our blackness, of our beauty the power, and to reach out…energetically…to hold hands with all of us.”

Her Instagram post, which is embedded below along with the Locked Down Facebook Q&A video, explained more about Ross’ hope for connection during this time of shared trauma.

“Dear Black People. I love us. I love you. I want to be with you today, connected to us,” she wrote in part. “I am reaching out through the air to hold hands right now…Please seek comfort & support. Be gentle with yourself even though the world isn’t gentle with us.”


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A post shared by Tracee Ellis Ross (@traceeellisross) on May 28, 2020 at 8:50am PDT

The High Note is now available for digital viewing.

READ MORE:

Tracee Ellis Ross On Overcoming Her Singing Fear For ‘The High Note,’ Finding Her Voice

Tracee Ellis Ross Releases First Single Ever For New Film ‘The High Note’

 

Photo: Shadow And Act

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