Bruce Springsteen pays homage to George Floyd and demands 'systemic changes in our law enforcement departments'
"We need systemic changes in our law enforcement departments," he said.
Bruce Springsteen used his latest semi-weekly DJ stint on his own satellite radio channel Wednesday to offer some heartfelt commentary about the death of George Floyd.
After playing his song "American Skin (41 Shots)," which he wrote about the 1999 shooting death of an unarmed African immigrant named Amadou Diallo by New York City police officers, Springsteen said, "Eight minutes. That song is almost eight minutes long. And that's how long it took George Floyd to die with a Minneapolis officer's knee buried into his neck."
He continued, "That's a long time. That's how long he begged for help and said he couldn't breathe. The arresting officer's response was nothing but silence and wait. Then he had no pulse and still it went on."
The Boss then dedicated the song "to Seattle, to New York, to Miami, to Atlanta, to Chicago, to Dallas, to Philadelphia, to Washington, to Los Angeles, to Asbury Park, to Minneapolis and to the memory of George Floyd. May he rest in peace."
He went on to address the current financial, health, political and racial crises the country is experiencing.
"As we speak, 40 million people are unemployed. One-hundred-thousand plus citizens have died from COVID-19, with only the most tepid and unfeeling response from our White House," he said, somberly. "As of today, our black citizens continue to be killed unnecessarily by our police on the streets of America. And as of this broadcast, the country was on fire and in chaos."
Springsteen followed that commentary by playing another one of his songs, "Murder Incorporated."
During the broadcast, he also played a speech Martin Luther King Jr. delivered in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, which he followed with a message demanding change.
“We have not cared for our house very well," Springsteen said. "There can be no standing peace without the justice owed to every American regardless of their race, color or creed."
"The events of the last week have once again proved that idea," he continued. "We need systemic changes in our law enforcement departments and the political will of our national citizenry to once again move forward the kind of changes that will bring the ideals of the civil rights movement once again to life and into this moment.”
You can check out the audio segment from Springsteen's latest DJ appearance on his official Facebook page.
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