Rihanna is expressing her anger and outrage over the brutal murder of George Floyd.
Rihanna is tired. Like many of us, the singer is fed up with the high degree of racism and police brutality in this country, especially amid back-to-back murders of unarmed Black Americans. Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot down by white men who considered themselves vigilantes, Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in her home after being mistaken for someone who had already been arrested, and George Floyd, who was suffocated under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer while being detained, have all lost their lives this year due to overt racism and a flawed criminal justice system.
Rihanna hopped on Instagram Friday to express her pain and disgust over these recent events.
“For the last few days, the magnitude of devastation, anger, sadness I’ve felt has been overwhelming to say the least! Watching my people get murdered and lynched day after day pushed me to a heavy place in my heart!” Rihanna began. She went on to explain how she has avoided social media after seeing the heart wrenching video of George Floyd’s murder and witnessing the “pure joy and climax” on the face of Derek Chauvin, the officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck. She ends her post by asking, “If intentional MURDER is the fit consequence for ‘drugs’ or ‘resisting arrest’…then what’s the fit consequence for MURDER???! #GerogeFloyd #AhmaudArbery #BreonnaTaylor.”
Chauvin, who is one of four police officers involved in the death of George Floyd, was arrested Friday on charges of manslaughter and third-degree murder. Protests calling for the arrest of the other three officers as well as an end to police brutality and racially motivated killings of Black Americans have sprung up in cities across the country.
While the protests have been mostly peaceful, property damage and looting have been occurring as a byproduct of the rage felt by the oppressed.
