Taraji P. Henson is proudly showing off her natural hair texture on social media.
On Monday, the Empire actress shared close-up look of her bright red Afro in a pair of Instagram selfies captioned, “Hair that defies gravity!!! Hair that grows towards the heavens.”
Henson, 49, added the hashtags “#BlackandProud #BlackLivesMatter #RockYourFro#PickoutYourFro and #ThrowUpYourFist." Her post comes in the wake of George Floyd’s death, which has sparked social unrest along with nationwide activism and Black Lives Matter protests in all 50 states.
In the photos, the actress is wearing shimmery gold eyeshadow, dark lipstick and berry-toned blush as she poses in what appears to be a backyard. She accessorized the glam hair and makeup with a colorful beaded collar necklace.
Henson’s famous friends showed love for her Instagram caption— and her gravity-defying Afro — in the comment section.
“Love you my Queen ✊🏾🤎✊🏾” her former Empire co-star Jussie Smollett wrote. Octavia Spencer added, “I need this on a tee shirt!!! 🔥🔥🔥”
La La Anthony dropped several heart eye emojis, while Tina Knowles wrote, “Fierceness🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”
Later that day, Henson posted an Instagram video of herself picking her Afro as "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown plays in the background.
"🗣🗣🗣✊🏾" she captioned the clip.
The Hidden Figures star is just one of many A-list celebs who have showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement on social media in recent weeks.
Last month, Beyoncé encouraged her fans to continue to raise their voices in a powerful Instagram video where she said, "We need justice for George Floyd."
"We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight. We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalize this pain,” the singer, 38, continued. “I’m not only speaking to people of color, if you’re white, black, brown, or anything in between I’m sure you feel hopeless by the racism going on in America right now.”
“There have been too many times that we’ve seen these violent killings and no consequences. Yes, somebody’s been charged but justice is far from being achieved,” she said, referencing the fired police officer who was charged with Floyd’s murder. “Please sign a petition and continue to pray for peace, love and compassion for our country.”
Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King also emphasized the importance of taking active steps to combat racism.
“Those of us who have the ability to be seen or heard in our lives—whether you are Black or white, Asian or Hispanic—it is incumbent on all of us to not just be outraged when we see injustice,” Winfrey said in the latest edition of her Oprah’s Your Life in Focus: A Vision Forward — Live Virtual Experience.
“It's not enough to just say 'It's so terrible.' We can't tolerate hate crimes perpetrated by authorities in this country,” Winfrey continued. “We need to speak up and say 'That will not happen on my watch.' We're going to do the work that it takes to dismantle in our own way.”
Source: Read Full Article