As you’ll already know, last night Beyonce played to a sold out Scottish crowd in Glasgow. But before belting out her final tunes of the night, Beyonce asked her fans to join her in a moment of silence and pay respect to all the victims of police brutality in American. Behind her, a wall of the names of the victims of gun crime, finishing with the words “and countless others”.
Beyonce just paused her Glasgow show for a moment of silence, displaying victims of police brutality #AltonSterling pic.twitter.com/REajdvlmUf
— Will (@TheAussieSide) July 7, 2016
Beyonce also took to Instagram and her own site to reveal her thoughts. On Instagram she posted an image that said “we all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into actions”. In a message posted on her website, Beyonce called on her followers to “take a stand and demand that they ‘stop killing us”‘.
This isn’t the first time Beyonce has spoken out about the Black Lives Matter movement – after all her single Formation and her performance at the Super Bowl earlier this year was considered by many to be her official call to arms.
Some critics even lauded Beyonce for becoming “a militant activist”. Piers Morgan blasted Bey for producing an album that was “deeply political” and added that he disliked Lemonade’s “race-fueled tone”. But what caused Beyonce to pause her Glasgow show to shed light on the matter? And what is the Black Lives Matter movement?
CATCH UP
Well, to catch you up to speed, right now America is dealing with a major issue of police brutality. And the Black Lives Movement, started way back 2013 as a campaigns against police violence toward black people.
The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began on social media three years ago following the second-degree murder acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin.
It also campaigns about the wider issues of the black prison population, racial profiling and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system and has been dubbed “a new civil rights movement”.
https://twitter.com/KingSheen1K/status/750949177417408514
THE SHOOTINGS
Recently the Guardian reported that the American police have killed at least 134 black people in 2016 alone. This week, two more were added to the list. Two black men were shot and killed in two isolated police shootings, within one day of each other.
In Louisiana, Alton Sterling was shot to death while being pinned down by cops. One day later, Philando Castile bled to death after an officer fired at him multiple times during a traffic stop. He had been pulled over by the cops in his hometown Minnesota, while driving with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her daughter. When he reached for his wallet at an officer’s request, he was shot and killed, according to a now-viral video posted by Reynolds.
#BlackLivesMatter advocates dignity, justice and freedom. Not murder.
— Black Lives Matter (BLM) (@Blklivesmatter) July 8, 2016
REACTION
President Obama issued a statement on his Facebook page about the shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota.
“All Americans should be deeply troubled by the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota,” it reads. “We’ve seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who’ve suffered such a painful loss.”
Many well know names are also venting their feelings about police shooting black people on social media; while others are protesting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHlHLA7gaVi/?taken-by=chrisbrownofficial&hl=en
#AltonSterling
Please. No more. This must stop.— Rashida Jones (@iamrashidajones) July 6, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHkwL8eAY6l/?taken-by=kellyrowland&hl=en
FURTHER TRAGEDY
To add to the tragedy, just hours after Beyonce ended her Glasgow concert, news arrived that five police officers had been killed by snipers in Dallas.
Gunfire broke out last night as demonstrators marched through the city protesting the deaths of Castile and Sterling.
Three people are now in custody and one man who was in a stand-off with police shot himself dead, US media said.
This weeks events mark an undoubtedly tragic point in American history but activists and politicians hope that the immeasurable grief can be galvanised into change. Keep reading below to see what Staff Writer, Kirsty McKenzie, thinks of the news.
https://twitter.com/TheAussieSide/status/751168609641046016
Staff Writer Kirsty McKenzie share’s her opinion on the BLM movement and Beyonce’s tribute:
I was at the Beyonce concert last night. Like thousands of others I forked out for the ticket, bought the overpriced drinks and spent hours queueing for a taxi – all in the hope of catching a glimpse of my favourite singer perform live. But among the sequins and the fireworks and the world-class warble, I wasn’t expecting a statement on global politics.
But it’s not just Beyonce who has spoken out. In the last few days, hundreds of celebrities, politicians and influential figures have tweeted using the hashtag #blacklivesmatter along with the names of the victims in a bid to spread awareness. But is awareness enough? In the below video, posted by Rihanna, a woman can be seen shouting at her camera phone: “So the Black Lives Matter movement has earned yet another hashtag. At least that’s how they’re going to look at it. Because that’s all they see, another hashtag. How often do we continue to let someone else’s child be a hashtag, y’all mad yet?”
“Y’all ain’t mad yet?” pleads the woman in the video that has now gone viral. “What does it take for y’all to get mad?”
And she is right. We all have a duty as part of the worldwide community to be angry at the unnecessary gun violence and racism that still occurs daily, not just in America, but across the world. It’s so easy for those of us back in Scotland to become despondent, desensitised or even politically apathetic. Gun crime, police brutality and such extreme forms of racism can seem so alien to us as we sit in front of our computer screens on rainy summer days.
Beyonce bringing these issues to light, and in particular targeting the Glasgow audience, proves how important it is for us to stay defiant, informed, and incensed.
Think about it. Beyonce is one of the least controversial artists on the planet. Her grasp on PR is so tight that it is rare we’ll see a picture of her that she hasn’t approved and we barely get a peep out of her during interviews. She is one of the richest, most powerful black women in the world today. It’s easy for us to think that the realities of police brutality and BLM are far removed from her daily life.
Yet she reportedly gave anonymous donations of tens of thousands of dollars to bail out jailed protesters following riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. Following an October 2015 Tidal charity concert, a $US1.5 million donation was made by her and Jay Z to the cause. This subject is one of the only things she speaks openly about. Why? Because her outreach to fans is unparalleled. Just think, last night she had 52,000 (mostly white) Glaswegians questioning institutional racism in between songs about infidelity and surfboards.
She is slipping us vegetables into her delicious meals – making the importance of Black Lives Matter more digestible. And that is something to be commended. Forget selling albums, this is about real human lives. To quote Desmond Tutu, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” It’s time for the world, not just America, to get educated. Once we’ve done that, we can follow Beyonce’s instructions and get in formation – and turn our anger into action.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHkodbPBOGC/?taken-by=beyonce
