Beyoncé and Jay-Z are speaking out following the murder of George Floyd—an unarmed Black man—by a white Minneapolis police officer.
In a video posted to her Instagram account, Beyoncé said: “We need justice for George Floyd. We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight. […] We cannot normalize this pain and I’m not only speaking to people of color if your white Black brown or anything in between I’m sure you feel hopeless by the racism going on in a right now.”
“No more seeing people of color as less than human. We can no longer look away. George is all of our family in humanity. He’s our family because he’s a fellow American,” she added before calling on her followers to sign a petition seeking justice for Floyd.
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Jay-Z also took to social media to thank Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for appointing Black Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to the Floyd case. In the post—made to his Roc Nation Instagram account—Jay-Z called himself “a dad and a Black man in pain.”
He urged Ellison to “do the right thing and prosecute all those responsible for the murder of George Floyd to the fullest extent of the law.”
Only one of the four police officers that were present during Floyd’s murder has been arrested. Derek Chauvin was originally charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
On June 3, Senator Amy Klobuchar confirmed there would be additional charges. “Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is increasing charges against Derek Chauvin to second degree in George Floyd’s murder and also charging other three officers,” she wrote on Twitter. She added: “This is another important step for justice.”
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Celebs Condemn Police Brutality
A number of other celebrities have spoken out against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd.
In a lengthy Instagram post, singer Billie Eilish discussed the issue of white privilege and how minorities are treated differently in America.
“If all lives matter, why are Black people being killed just for being Black?” Eilish asked.
“Why are white people given opportunities that people of other races aren’t? […] Do you know why? White [Expletive] Privilege,” she wrote.
Comedian Kevin Hart also addressed the issue of white privilege in America. “The term white privilege, it’s real. If you don’t understand the definition, if you don’t understand the use of it, then you’re […] blind. You’re blind and you’re choosing to ignore our now reality,” he said in an Instagram video.
President Barack Obama wrote an op-ed for Medium entitled “How to Make This Moment the Turning Point for Real Change.” He discussed how Americans can go about making effective change for “the ongoing problem of unequal justice.”
“[I]f we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform,” he wrote.
