Actor Wendell Pierce, renowned for his performances in “The Wire” and “Jack Ryan,” has publicly stated that he was refused an apartment in Harlem, New York, due to racial discrimination.
“Even with my proof of employment, bank statements, and real estate holdings, a white apartment owner DENIED my application to rent the apartment…in Harlem, of all places,” Pierce shared on social media platform X on Tuesday, June 4th.
He added, “Racism and bigots are real. There are those who will do anything to destroy life’s journey for Black folks. When you deny our personal experiences, you are as vile and despicable.”
In an interview with CNN’s Abby Phillips, Pierce described the rejection as a blatant act of racism. He recounted helping a relative, a recent Howard University graduate, find housing.
“I gave them all of my bank statements…and I was denied and I realized that they used the technicality of saying because I did not have steady, consistent employment…Most actors work three months here, three months there,” he explained.
Despite offering to pay a year’s rent upfront, Pierce’s application was still rejected.
“I realized the application was designed that way to be discriminatory,” he stated.
Pierce, who is currently engaged in multiple projects, including the TV series “Elsbeth” and “Raising Kanan,” and the movie “Superman,” emphasized that his statement was to highlight broader issues of discrimination.
“While I appreciate the response to my own personal experience of discrimination in housing, I only mentioned it as an example of the insidious nature of bigotry,” Pierce stated in a follow-up post, responding to a recent court decision that halted a program designed to provide grants exclusively to Black women-owned businesses in the Atlanta-area.
Pierce said that while he could comprehend restrictions involving public funds, the refusal to allow private funds could detrimentally impact many other organizations.
The actor remarked, “That means every Black church that wants to give to a kid in that congregation—that is illegal. If a women engineers group wants to help young women get scholarships for school to go into sciences—that is illegal,”
He continued, “If a business sees the benefit of going to HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and hiring some of the students that are coming out of that talent—they are saying that that is illegal. It sets a precedent that I felt as though it was going under the radar, very stealth by folks who do not have our best interests at heart.”
Pierce described the decision as one of the most “devastating” in history, arguing that if this policy is applied to firms offering grants to businesses owned by Black women, it should also extend to entities like J.P. Morgan, which operates a private food and welfare program, and ExxonMobil, which receives tax incentives for its involvement in the oil industry.
