Drake has joined in the chorus of grief and outrage over the shooting of Alton Sterling by police officers in Baton Rouge.
The killing of the 37-year-old Sterling was caught on tape and has been widely condemned for what appears to be yet another deadly show of force by a police department on a black man.
In an open letter posted to Instagram, Drake sends his condolences to the Sterling family, and speaks of the troubling video which left him “feeling disheartened, emotional and truly scared”. He added, “It's impossible to ignore that the relationship between black and brown communities and law enforcement remains as strained as it was decades ago. No one begins their life as a hashtag. Yet the trend of being reduced to one continues.”
According to CNN, the president of the Baton Rouge NAACP branch called for the city's police chief and chief executive to resign in light of Tuesday's shooting death of Sterling, a black man who was seen in a video being pinned to the ground and shot after he allegedly got into an altercation with the officers.
Drake, a Canadian citizen who calls America his "second home", says he remains optimistic that “things can change for the better. Open and honest dialogue is the first step.”
Chuck D, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Meek Mill, Nick Jonas and Justin Timberlakeare among the many artists who have commented on the tragedy.
Read Drake’s open letter below.
