Nick Cannon "had to go to Minneapolis" to join the protests following the shocking death of George Floyd.
In light of the passing of African-American man Floyd at the hands of police officers on 25 May, protests were staged across the U.S. over the weekend, with activists demanding an end to police brutality and racial prejudice.
Explaining his decision to visit Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Floyd died, Nick wrote in an essay published by Variety: "I needed to be right there on 38th Street and Chicago where George Floyd's life was tragically stolen from him.
"I needed to see the people in that community - how much love they had for their community and their people and how much pain this has caused. We feel the pain go across the world - the anger and the hurt. Those visuals will never be removed from our minds."
He continued: "We're in the middle of a pandemic and instead of coming closer together and operating as one humanity, people go within and want to protect the focus on old mind-sets of classism and racism.
"This doesn't have to exist anymore. People are searching for a new normal. I don't want to go back to our old normal - clearly that was killing us on many levels. What we need is a new normal, a new paradigm."
Urging people to "step up and say this system has been wrong for years", Cannon went on to demand a total reform of policing, suggesting that the term "police officer" be replaced with "peace officer," since people are supposed to feel protected and safe in the presence of cops.
"My kids are scared of police officers. In their minds, they're the bad guys. This is clearly the problem," the father-of-three continued. "What happened to George Floyd has been going on for years and years... everything we see, we have to hold them accountable - including the so-called good cops standing by allowing this to happen.
"One bad cop isn't acting alone. There are several other bad cops allowing that one to do what he is doing."
Derek Chauvin, the white police officer who was filmed kneeling on Floyd's neck, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
