Protests for police reform in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have music legend Stevie Wonder encouraged about a coming breakthrough in the civil rights movement, but only if people keep fighting for it.
In a video posted to Facebook early-Tuesday morning, Wonder compared the movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday to the 18-year fight to have Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday observed as a holiday.
He said the next step forward "to atone for the sins of this country" may not be so far away.
"Today's not yesterday, and all things have an ending," Wonder said. "But what I'd like to know is when will the day come that we let hate go? Or do I have to concede that for human beings, it's just impossible? But if life can have an ending, all things can have an ending. Systemic racism can have an ending. Police brutality can have an ending. Economic repression of black and brown people can have an ending."
Wonder continued, noting that he's encouraged by the apparently changing attitudes about the reality of racial injustice in America. He urged people who are concerned about the state of civil rights to do more than just talk about it.
"Move your feet to the polls and move your hands to vote. The future is in your hands. We have the power to vote and we can make a change," he added.
Without naming names, Wonder expressed his outrage at President Trump's mishandling of race relations during his first term in office. He evoked Trump's infamous "there's good people on both sides" comment, regarding the 2017 white supremacist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"It is our lives, literally," Wonder concluded. "Yes, all lives do matter. But they only matter when black lives matter, too. It's a sad day when I can see better than your 20/20 vision. The universe is watching us."
Wonder is a renowned activist, who was awarded the title of United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2009.
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