02 September 2020
Newsdesk
Demi Lovato has written an open letter about becoming a better advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The star opened up about how the Covid-19 crisis impacted her mental health and how the Black Lives Matter protests, which began following the death of African-American man George Floyd in May, affected her personally in an essay for Vogue magazine.
"I've always taken my advocacy work seriously, but now I'm looking at it with renewed focus. In this particular instance, what motivated me was knowing how much of myself comes from Black culture," she shared. "I grew up listening to Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and other soulful singers, but those two Black women in particular shaped me into the vocalist I am. If you look at my life, everything that I have - money, success, a roof over my head - it's because of the inspiration those Black women gave me. I continue to be constantly inspired by people of colour today."
The 28-year-old felt "an overwhelming responsibility" to use her platform to spread awareness and educate her followers about racial injustice, but felt self-conscious about speaking up.
"At first, I was self-conscious about speaking out about these issues because I didn't want anyone to feel like it wasn't genuine," she insisted. "I also felt like I wanted to call every person of colour that I knew and apologize, which I know isn't the right thing to do either. Like a lot of people, I didn't know what to do.
"All I knew was that I hated that I shared the same skin colour as the people accused of committing heinous crimes against Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many, many other Black lives."
To conclude, the Skyscraper star highlighted the need for "inclusivity", stating: "Creating environments where women, people of colour and trans people feel safe is important. Not just safe, but equal to their cis, white, male counterparts."
