D.L. Hughley is speaking out on the Los Angeles protests against the ongoing ICE raids.
While speaking to TMZ Live this week, the 62-year-old actor and comedian argued that civil disobedience is not only justified in the face of injustice, it’s essential.
“Would these people have indicted Rosa Parks? She broke the law,” said Hughley near the one-minute mark in the video linked above. “But civil disobedience is why we here. Civil disobedience is why we have some of the freedom we have right now.”
He pushed back on the idea that legality equates to morality, reminding viewers of what was once illegal for Black people in the United States.
“So this notion that the law is sacrosanct—the law changes because people see the folly of it or they challenge it enough,” he said.
Hughley expressed outrage at the overwhelming military presence in Los Angeles amid ICE raids and compared it to deployments in war zones.
“There are more Marines in Los Angeles than there are in some parts of the Arabian Peninsula … and they're stationed at the parking lot at Home Depot,” he noted.
For Hughley, that kind of state force demands a proportionate public response.
“The only way things like this change is if you disrupt the law, you disrupt things, you are civilly disobedient," he argued.
Further into the interview, TMZ host Harvey Levin mentioned Nelson Mandela’s prison time as a symbol of resistance, saying that “sometimes accepting the punishment is a more powerful kind of weapon.”
“I think Black people and brown people have accepted enough punishment for right now,” Hughley replied. “Thanks for your offer.”
“It is a civil matter to be an undocumented. We're sending people to El Salvador for that,” he continued. “So, yes, these times call for these measures of people taking to the streets and disrupting. If I got to stand here so you can't go to work, so the system doesn't work, that's what needs to happen.”
He added, “You didn't need masks to arrest El Chapo. You need masks to arrest his gardener. We're morally bankrupt right now … It's immoral to do the things we're doing. Even soldiers can disobey immoral order they disagree with, and a society can do it too.”