Actor Mark Ruffalo has called on President Obama to sign an executive order divesting federal funds from “bad cops” and police departments in the wake of the shooting deaths of two African-American men and five Dallas police officers earlier this month.
The 48-year-old Avengers star posted a link to a petition on his Twitter page on Monday.
“Defund bad cops and police departments,” the actor wrote. “Tell Obama: We need an executive order!” Ruffalo ended the message with the hashtag, “#DefundPolice.”
The petition linked to by the actor calls on Congress and the Obama administration to cut federal funding for police departments nationwide.
“Congress and the Obama administration are spending millions of dollars every year giving grants to the same police departments that are killing and over-incarcerating Black people — and it has to stop,” the petition reads.
“Our criminal justice system is not properly holding police accountable,” it continues. “We must defund police departments that employee [sic] officers who are quick to kill and condone practices that do not value Black life. Our nation, politicians and many police are in agreement that police departments need reform, however, no one is ensuring this reform happens – and more and more Black people are getting killed because of it.”
Ruffalo’s tweet was met with derision by many of his followers on the social media service:
On Tuesday, the actor and progressive activist followed up with another tweet in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ruffalo has previously expressed support for Black Lives Matter.
In January, the actor said that he hoped some black celebrities’ decisions to boycott the Academy Awards over a lack of diversity would allow his peers in Hollywood to “open their hearts” to the movement.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum