It's not every day that Adele shares something on Instagram, but the heartbreaking death of George Floyd moved the 'Hello' singer to break her social media silence to support the fight for 'justice.'
“George Floyd’s murder has sent shockwaves around the world,” wrote Adele, 32, at the start of her June 1 Instagram post. The “Hello” singer shared a picture of the 46-year-old man who died of “asphyxiation from sustained pressure” after Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin pressed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes. George’s death sparked demonstrations across the world, and Adele threw her support behind the Fed Up-rising. “Protests and marches are happening all over the globe simultaneously and only gaining momentum.”
“So be righteously angered but be focused! Keep listening, keep asking, and keep learning! It’s important we don’t get disheartened, hijacked, or manipulated right now. This is about systematic racism,” she added. “This is about police violence, and it’s about inequality. And this isn’t only about America! Racism is alive and well everywhere. I wholeheartedly stand in solidarity with the fight for freedom, liberation, and justice #blacklivesmatter #georgefloyd #saytheirnames.”
It’s not often that Adele posts to Instagram. Her three previous messages were her birthday post on May 6 (in which she revealed her slimmed-down figure), a Christmas-themed shoot with The Grinch on Dec. 23, 2019, and a message to Drake on his birthday back on Oct. 24, 2019. So, it would take an important thing for Adele to break her social media silence, and at the moment, there’s no more critical issue than the death of George Floyd.
It seems that Adele has taken into consideration that Martin Luther King Jr. quote that’s been passed around in the wake of George Floyd’s death (“There comes a time when silence is betrayal” or “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”)
She now joins the growing number of celebrities voicing support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Millie Bobby Brown posted the words “BLACK LIVES MATTER” to her IG page on June 1. Justin Bieber posted a message, saying, “Dear non black friends… I’m paying attention to your silence.” Colton Haynes also posted a note that read, “White silence equals white consent. Black Lives Matter.”
Nicki Minaj shared a photo detailing the last words of more than a dozen black men and women killed by the police, including Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, and Trayvon Martin. NFL star Russell Wilson shared a length message about how “we need true leadership. We need justice. We need equality.”
