Last week, after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Demi Lovato posted in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. She also directed her fellow white people to do more. “Do not let your discomfort surrounding social issues prevent you from speaking up for those IN DANGER,” she wrote. “And reality is, until this STOPS COMPLETELY – THE BLACK COMMUNITY WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE IN DANGER. DO YOUR PART.”
Since then, her social pages have been full of re-shared informational resources for activism and racial justice, including the pyramid of white supremacy, different funds and actionable ways you can support the movement, and even a plea to not mark black-square Instagram posts on Blackout Tuesday with the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag (so as not to bury valuable resources).
Today (June 3), Lovato shared another important asset: information on how to honor Breonna Taylor — a Black women shot to death by police in her Louisville home in March — on Friday, June 5, which would have been Taylor’s 27th birthday.
“It’s Breonna Taylor’s birthday this Friday,” Lovato wrote on Twitter. “She was an EMT on the frontlines during corona. Around midnight on March 13th police broke down her door and shot her 8 times, no evidence of a crime was uncovered.” Her Instagram post has more context about Taylor from the original post which Lovato shared, including that Taylor’s favorite colors were blue and purple and that she loved the music of Kevin Gates.
For her birthday, the call to action suggests writing to the governor of Kentucky on Breonna’s behalf. “The most underserved demographic in America is black women, we cannot allow them to forget Breonna,” the message reads.
Lovato also posted a longer message via a series of slides that addressed the upgrading of the charge against Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck until he was dead, from third degree murder to second degree murder and the charging of the three other officers on the scene with aiding and abetting second degree murder. “White people: PLEASE HELP FIGHT THIS GOOD FIGHT. The Black community NEEDS YOU!!!!”
She also addressed Black followers, fans, family, co-workers, and others in her life, as well as those reading the message. “I hate my white privilege,” she wrote. “It feels gross.. like having blood money or something. But I will use it to change things in whatever way I can.”
Check out the full posts above, and visit Lovato’s IG page — where she’s also reposted voter information and a helpful explainer on systemic racism — for more.
