Beyoncé Pens Letter On Police Brutality: "Stop Killing Us"
The singer expresses the need for social justice and respect for black lives.
LEMONADE proved to be Beyoncé’s most political project of her career — a visual album full of commentary on the implications of being black in America — and on July 7, she made yet another powerful statement following the deaths of African-American men who were killed by police. Within 48 hours prior, the deaths of Alton Sterling of Louisiana and Philando Castile of Minnesota were captured on camera before going viral and sparking outrage both online and in protest around the country, urging the singer to express her own feelings in an open letter titled “Freedom” — sharing its name with the revolutionary anthem featuring Kendrick Lamar on her album — on her website.
“We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities,” Beyoncé begins. “We don’t need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives.” At the end of her post, she urges readers to contact their local politicians via provided links but soon after sharing at least one of those sites crashed from having too many visitors. Beyoncé was in Glasgow, Russia, at the time for a concert that day, during which she stopped the show for a moment of silence. Projected onto a screen behind her were the names of hundreds of victims of police brutality, including Sterling and Castile. Read her full message to their families and her fans below.
We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities.
It is up to us to take a stand and demand that they “stop killing us.”
We don’t need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives.
We’re going to stand up as a community and fight against anyone who believes that murder or any violent action by those who are sworn to protect us should consistently go unpunished.
These robberies of lives make us feel helpless and hopeless but we have to believe that we are fighting for the rights of the next generation, for the next young men and women who believe in good.
This is a human fight. No matter your race, gender or sexual orientation. This is a fight for anyone who feels marginalized, who is struggling for freedom and human rights.
This is not a plea to all police officers but toward any human being who fails to value life. The war on people of color and all minorities needs to be over.
Fear is not an excuse. Hate will not win.
We all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into action. We must use our voices to contact the politicians and legislators in our districts and demand social and judicial changes.
While we pray for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, we will also pray for an end to this plague of injustice in our communities.
—Beyoncé
