Walk The Moon frontman Nicholas Petricca is raising his voice in the wake of the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer last week.
In a video posted on the band’s Instagram page, the 33-year-old singer holds up a piece of paper with “Black Lives Matter” written on it and then proceeds to sing part of Marvin Gaye’s 1971 song inspired by police brutality, “What’s Going On.”
The clip is captioned: “thank you Black artists who continue to transform the world with your expression and are to thank for so much of the music that we love and admire.”
Last Saturday, Walk The Moon pledged to match donations, up to $4,000 (all figures U.S.), to Black Visions Collective. The initiative collected $36,700.32, resulting in a total donation of $40,700.32.
On his own Instagram page, Petricca appealed to white people to “seek to understand and build your awareness” of racism and privilege.
The singer referred to having been in a relationship with actress Sara Montez, who describes herself on Instagram as "extra mixed Afrolatinx+.”
Petricca said: “Just getting a glimpse of their experience and their perspective, I found that I was pretty ignorant. I was missing a lot and I was living in a bubble … where the idea of racism and prejudice were absurd and seemed like a thing of the past. That’s not the reality, unfortunately, in the USA in 2020.”
Petricca urged white people to educate themselves. “If you have family or friends who are minorities, people of colour or mixed, then with love and respect and genuine curiosity, ask and maybe they will tell you about their experience.
“Ask and maybe they’ll tell you ways in which you might be an ally for them. Seek to understand. Get curious, get informed, and seek to be a bridge, be an ally.”
Last weekend, Lizzo shared a different message on Instagram. “Black people … it is not your job to educate people on racism or white privilege. It is exhausting and if they don’t see it or believe it by now, they don’t want to.”