‘Watching my people get murdered and lynched day after day has pushed me to a heavy place in my heart,’ said singer
Rihanna has posted a furious message on Instagram about the death of George Floyd, saying the “devastation, anger and sadness” that she feels is “overwhelming”.
On Monday (25 May), Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis after a white officer knelt on his neck during an arrest.
In footage of the incident, Floyd can be heard pleading for his life, saying: “I can’t breathe.”
Derek Chauvin, the police officer who pinned Floyd down, has been arrested and charged with murder.
“For the last few days,” wrote Rihanna, “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!
“To the point of staying away from socials, just to avoid hearing the blood curdling agony in George Floyd’s voice again, begging over and over for his life!!! The look of enticement, the pure joy and climax on the face of this bigot, murderer, thug, pig, bum, Derek Chauvin, haunts me!! I can’t shake this!”
She continued: “I can’t get over an ambulance pulling up to an arrest, a paramedic checking a pulse without removing the very thing that’s hindering it! Is this that f***ing normal??? If intentional MURDER is the fit consequence for ‘drug’ or ‘resisting arrest’… then what’s the fit consequence for MURDER???!”
Many celebrities have expressed their outrage over Floyd’s death in recent days, with Beyoncé demanding justice for him in a powerful Instagram video.
“We all witnessed his murder in broad daylight,” she said. “We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalise this pain. I’m not only speaking to people of colour. If you’re white, black, brown, or anything in between, I’m sure you feel hopeless by the racism going on in America right now.”
Protests have been raging across American cities in the days following Floyd’s death.
A video of the rapper Killer Mike recently went viral, in which he tearfully pleaded for George Floyd protesters in Atlanta not to resort to violence.