Beyonce To Black Community: Vote Like Our Lives Depend On It

American singer and songwriter Beyonce Knowles has appealed to her fans as well as the black community to vote in the 2020 United States presidential elections like their lives depends on it.

Beyonce made the appeal while accepting the Black Entertainment Television, BET, award for her contributions to humanitarian work across the globe. 

In her speech delivered through a video address, Beyonce praised protesters who took to the streets following the death of George Floyd and urged people to vote ahead of November’s presidential election. 

She said,” I want to dedicate this award to all my brothers out there, all my sisters out there inspiring me, marching and fighting for change. Your voices are being heard and your are proving to our ancestors thattheir struggle wre not in vain.

“Now, we have one more thing we need to do to walk in our true power and that is to vote. I am encouraging you to continue to take action, continue to change and dismantle a racist and unequal system.

“We have to continue to do this together, continue to fight for each other and lift each other up because there are people banking on us staying at home during local elections and primaries happening in states across the country.

“We have to vote like our life depends on it, because it does. So please continue to be the change you want to see”, Beyonce added.

Recurring theme for the award ceremony was fury against police treatment to black people as different artist performed depicting recent events against the black fold.

For a performance of his UK number one single Rockstar, rapper DaBaby was surrounded by protesters holding slogans in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, while others wore T-shirts bearing the names of black people killed by police.

He began with a nod to the death of Mr Floyd, adding a new intro to the song rapped while he was on the floor with a police officer’s knee on his neck.

The performance was dedicated to the “lives lost to racism and police brutality”.