LOS ANGELES AP- Beyoncé used her platform Sunday while accepting the BET humanitarian award to relay a direct appeal to viewers: Go vote.
“Your voices are being heard and you’re proving to our ancestors that their struggles were not in vain,” said the superstar singer at the BET Awards, which celebrated its 20 years of highlighting excellence in Black-led entertainment. However, the ceremony, filmed virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, kept much of its focus on topics such as systematic racism and equal rights.
Beyoncé was honoured for her philanthropic work and relief efforts during the COVID-19 crisis. Together with her mother, she started a campaign to encourage other high-profile celebrities to nominate each other to help fund testing efforts in their respective hometowns dubbing it the #IDidMyPart challenge. Her vision, as seen in the clip below on her Instagram account, is that everyone has the right to "get tested".
Prior to this new testing initiative, Beyoncé donated R104 million to COVID-19 relief efforts. The singer dedicated her award to the Black Lives Matter movement and encouraged other activists to continue to push forward.
She said voting in the upcoming election was the way to end a “racist and unequal system” in America.
“I’m encouraging you to take action,” she said following an introduction by former first lady Michelle Obama. “We have to vote like our lives depend on it, because it does,” she said.
