Run The Jewels, Drake & More Speak Out On Latest US Shootings

8 July 2016 | 1:45 pm | Staff Writer

In the wake of Beyonce's powerful call to action, more musicians are speaking out about police violence against black Americans

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A growing number of musicians are speaking out against the use of lethal force by US police officers — particularly as it pertains to white officers' routine interactions with black Americans — in the wake of yet another two shootings and a poignant statement from global icon Beyonce.

As The Daily Dot notes, Beyonce was one of the first — and certainly most visible — stars to address the deaths of Alton Sterling, a father of five who was killed after being pinned to the ground by two officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile, whose girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, live-streamed the aftermath of his shooting in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, on Facebook. 

The Lemonade hit-maker made a powerful statement on several fronts, uploading an impassioned missive to her website that implores police officers "stop killing us", as well as taking a moment of silence for victims of excessive violence at the hands of police — including Sterling and Castile — at a concert in Scotland.

"We don't need sympathy," Beyonce wrote in her letter. "We need everyone to respect our lives."

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"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." 

The situation remains tense in the United States, with new reports having emerged that at least three police officers were shot and killed, and several others injured, at a protest over the citizen deaths, being held in Dallas, Texas.

As mentioned, an increasing number of contemporaries and peers are speaking out about the latest episode of police lethality; Run The Jewels member El-P, for example, took to Twitter over several tweets to suggest significant reform to law enforcement.

"Fire the police," he began. "Rewrite the training manual. change the enlistment standards. smart, young, kind, brave hearts wanted for sacred duty.

"What an amazing, sacred, honorable duty it is to be given the trust to protect and serve humans. only the best need apply. we can not and will not tolerate the death of our fellow humans at the hands of those who would abuse that sacred honor.

"You are NOT good enough for that duty if you do not understand the importance and soul of that duty. and your fucking time is up if you don't. might not be today but god damnit it's coming. trust that shit."

El-P's 'other half' in Run The Jewels, Killer Mike, also weighed in, equating police shootings with old-time lynchings as the modern measure of "keep[ing] a class system based on race intact", while indie-rock outfit Portugal. The Man expressed their support and sadness. "Killing when we should be protecting," they wrote in a tweet featuring the victims' names as hashtags alongside a simple "#broken".

"This is sad. We need to support each other and bring change."

Chart-busting Canadian rapper Drake, too, has commented on the tragedies on Instagram, calling the US his "second home" and expressing how the footage of Sterling's death "left me feeling disheartened, emotional, and truly scared".

"It's impossible to ignore that the relationship between black and brown communities and law enforcement remains as strained as it was decades ago," he wrote. "No one begins their life as a hashtag. Yet the trend of being reduced to one continues.

"This is real and I'm concerned. Concerned for the safety of my family, my friends, and any human being that could fall victim to this pattern. I do not know the answer. But I believe things can change for the better. Open and honest dialogue is the first step."

His Chicago-bred contemporary, Vic Mensa, also used Instagram to discuss Sterling's death by posing powerful questions — "Does this face scare you? Would you cross the street if he asked if you wanted to buy a DVD?" — to criticise the wider societal issues at play:

"We need to reprogram," he wrote. "Our nation's past bleeds into our present by raising us to think black is something to fear. The police officer that killed him was so scared of the idea of a black man with a gun that it didn't matter if he was reaching for it or threatening at all."

It's a sentiment echoed by Joey BadA$$, who also wrote a lengthy, heartfelt rumination on the topic on his Instagram account in which he expresses his belief that the government is attempting to foment a new racial civil war — "They are simply pushing us to our limit so that we can all get together and rebel so that it makes it easier for them to kill us," he wrote — while, on the local front, Melburnian rapper Baro has hastened his resolve to release new track Fuck The Judge, ft. Remi, in response to the continued violence.

Other vocal critics have included Chance The Rapper, Justin TimberlakeTalib KweliBlood Orange (aka Dev Hynes) and Questlove, who summed the whole horrible situation up in a few short words: