Demanding change. Beyoncé, Rihanna, Alicia Keys and more celebs teamed up for a powerful PSA, in which they list 23 ways black people have been killed by police in recent years.
The video — which premiered on Mic.com on Wednesday, July 13 — was released in partnership with the We Are Here Movement and was made on the heels of the headline-making deaths of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Both black men were shot and killed by white officers in the past two weeks.
Queen Bey, 34, pays tribute to Castile, who was shot by a policeman on Wednesday, July 6, while seated in a car with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her young daughter after they were pulled over for a routine traffic stop. According to the Star Tribune, 32-year-old Castile informed the officer that he was carrying a licensed firearm before he reached into his back pocket to get his ID. His death was broadcast by Reynolds on Facebook Live.
“Riding in your girlfriend’s car with a child in the back,” the superstar tells the camera, referring to Castile’s senseless death.
In the nearly 3-minute clip, Taraji P. Henson honors Sterling, who was shot by police on Tuesday, July 5, outside a supermarket where he was selling homemade CDs and DVDs. A video filmed by a community activist has since circulated online, sparking major outrage.
“Selling CDs outside of a supermarket,” the Empire actress, 45, tearfully recalls.
A handful of other stars, including Chris Rock, Jennifer Hudson, Pink and Queen Latifah also appear in the PSA and remember the lives of black victims such as Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner and others who lost their lives due to police brutality.
At the end of the video, Rihanna, 28, somberly says that the everyday actions that black people have been killed for are widely interpreted as “not servile enough.”
Watch the emotional star-studded memorial above.
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