Pharrell Williams doesn’t mince words when it comes to talking about Stand Your Ground, a law that allows Americans in 26 states to shoot someone if they feel their lives are being threatened.
While celebrating the launch of his new collaboration with G-Star, I laid out the details of the recent Jordan Davis case, in which a 17-year-old black teen was shot by a 47-year-old white man, Michael Dunn, for playing “thug music” too loud. Pharrell went off.
“That [Stand Your Ground] law needs to change, first off,” Williams said. “That man’s conduct was allowed because of the law. It has nothing to do with hip-hop. Hip-hop was just an excuse.”
Allegedly, Dunn asked Davis to turn down his hip-hop music, and shortly after an argument ensued, Dunn killed the 17-year-old, fearing that Davis had a gun. If this sounds eerily similar to other recent news, it is: George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges in the Travyon Martin case, in which he also shot a young weaponless black kid out of fear.
And so Williams, along with many other Americans, is tired of hearing that vicious murders like these are protected under the Stand Your Ground law, and he wants it repealed. “We can’t keep getting caught up in the connotation of words [and hip-hop]” he told me. “We have to get caught up in the conduct of what people are doing.” For more, watch my interview with Pharrell on HLN.