Beyoncé pens open letter about police shootings: 'Stop killing us'

Beyoncé had a moment of silence for victims of police violence during her Thursday concert in Glasgow.

(Image credit: Twitter.com/PopCrave)

published 8 July 2016

Beyoncé posted a powerful letter Thursday on her website, sharing her grief and anger over the officer-involved shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

"We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities," she wrote. "It is up to us to take a stand and demand that they 'stop killing us.' We don't need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives." It doesn't matter a person's "race, gender, or sexual orientation," she continued, this is a "fight for anyone who feels marginalized, who is struggling for freedom and human rights." Her letter wasn't a "plea to all police officers, but toward any human being who fails to value life. The war on people and all minorities needs to be over."

Beyoncé called on people to channel their anger and frustration into action by contacting politicians and legislators to "demand social and judicial changes." While the shootings may leave people feeling hopeless, "we have to believe that we are fighting for the rights of the next generation, for the next young men and women who believe in good," she wrote. During her concert Thursday night in Glasgow, Beyoncé held a moment of silence, and displayed the names of police brutality victims on a giant screen.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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