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Rihanna urges unity during NAACP Image Awards speech

4 years 1 month 3 days ago Sunday, February 23 2020 Feb 23, 2020 February 23, 2020 2:31 PM February 23, 2020 in News
Source: CNN
Rihanna accepts the 'President's Award' at 2020 NAACP Image Awards event Photo: BET

As Rihanna accepted the President's Award during Saturday's 2020 NAACP Image Awards, she delivered a short but powerful speech, urging people of all backgrounds to work together to stamp out prejudice. 

"If there's anything I've learned it's that we can only fix this world together. We can't do it divided," Rihanna said. "We can't let the de-sensitivity seep in."

She went on to list some of the popularly held mindsets that she believes only lead to more divisiveness, by saying, "'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.'"

"How many of us in this room have colleagues and partners and friends from other races, sexes, religions?," The singer asked.

"Well then, they want to break bread with you, right?," Rihanna continued. "They like you? Well then, this is their problem too. So when we're marching and protesting and posting about the Michael Brown Jr.s and the Atatiana Jeffersons of the world, tell your friends to pull up."

Rihanna also thanked the NAACP for celebrating the "strength and tenacity" of people of color who have been "denied opportunities since the beginning of time."

CNN reports that Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement that Rihanna had received the award for not only her "groundbreaking career as an artist and musician," but also for being a "stellar public servant."

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