Rihanna was recently awarded The President’s Award at the 51st NAACP Image Awards. Accepting it, she gave a powerful speech invoking the need for unity, being compassionate towards one another and sharing responsibility to ensure that.
“Tonight is not really about me — because the purpose is bigger than me, right? It’s not bigger than us together, but it’s bigger than me. Because my part is a very small part of the work that is being done in this world and the work that is yet to be done,” she remarked. “If there’s anything that I’ve learned, it’s that we can only fix this world together. We can’t do it divided. We can’t let the de-sensitivity seep in. The, ‘If it’s your problem, then it’s not mine. It’s a woman’s problem, it’s a black people problem, it’s a poor people problem,” she added.
She also had a word of advice for everybody. “How many of us in this room have colleagues and partners and friends from other races, sexes, religions?” she asked. “Well then, you know, they want to break bread with you, right? They like you? Well then, this is their problem too. So when we’re marching and protesting and posting about the Michael Brown Jrs and the Atatiana Jeffersons of the world, tell your friends to pull up.”