'Selma' cast brings protests to the red carpet at NYC premiere

Golden Globe-nominated film Selma is all about the fight for civil rights led, in part, by Martin Luther King in the '60s.

So it seemed like a natural alignment when its stars alluded to recent protests over police brutality by wearing "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts on the red carpet and to the after party in New York Sunday evening.

Actor Wendell Pierce sported his shirt on the red carpet, while star David Oyelowo, who plays King in the movie, joined some of his co-stars and director Ava DuVernay in wearing the statement-making garment at the premiere after the party.

The group also displayed the hands-up-don't-shoot pose, just like actor-producer Ruben Santiago-Hudson did on the red carpet.

In an interview with USA TODAY, both Oyelowo and Oprah Winfrey, who stars in and helped produced Selma, say the current turmoil is a direct parallel to the struggles of the past, bu they're glad to see the nation rallying together.

"In Selma, it was voting rights," says Oyelowo. "Initially, it was a black problem. It wasn't until Bloody Sunday, and the world seeing Bloody Sunday, that it became an American problem. It's the same thing in Ferguson. When it was just Ferguson, it was a black problem. But when you see the undeniable injustice of this man being murdered on-screen in the shape of Eric Garner, similarly, the nation rallied."