June 9 (UPI) -- Actor Kerry Washington said she finds hope in the worldwide protests against police brutality after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
"It fills me with so much hope and encouragement," she said Monday on Jimmy Kimmel Live. "I feel like we as a nation and as a world in some ways, we're just done having our governments work in ways that don't reflect our values.
"I think for a long time people thought you could just be a passenger in this train called democracy, but that's not how it works. A democracy works if we all show and we all express our values, whether it's voting or in the streets protesting. That is what democracy looks like," she said.
Washington also said black history should be taught differently in schools and not only focus on segregation and the civil rights movement.
"This idea of teaching kids that black history and black people were a lot of things before segregation, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement. So that we understand the beautiful complexity, elegance and richness of black history," she said.
Floyd, 46, who was unarmed, died while handcuffed and pinned to the ground by police on Memorial Day. Derek Chauvin, the officer who was videotaped placing his knee on Floyd's neck, has been fired and charged along with the three other officers.
Floyd is being buried next to his mother Tuesday during a private funeral service in his hometown of Houston.
Kerry stars in Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu and directed an episode of Insecure. She starred as Olivia Pope on Scandal, which ran for seven seasons on ABC.