Chaka Khan and Luenell spent their Mother’s Day protesting violence against black people.
The singer and comedian, along with women who have lost relatives to violence, held the rally in Los Angeles at Norman O. Houston Park. According to TMZ, the purpose of the rally was to offer support to grieving mothers and speak out against the killing of black children.
“Chaka Khan and myself and others, we just had it with the racial violence against our sons, against our husbands, against us,” Luenell told the outlet. “Women are not exempt, children are not exempt. We’re not playing like it’s a cop thing, we’re not playing like it’s anything other than what it is, but it’s racial.”
“If we can’t start to live peacefully, we’re going to die at war and that’s just what it is,” she continued. “There’s no reason for somebody to die for any of this shit that they’ve been dying ‘bout. On Mother’s Day, we thought it would be appropriate to come and gather and speak.”
This protest comes at the heels of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Sean Reed.
Arbery, an unarmed black man, was shot multiple times by two white men as he took a jog through a Georgia neighborhood. His killers were not arrested and charged until months after the murder. Arbery’s death caused many celebrities and political figures to speak out about the injustices in our system, especially when it comes to black people.
Reed was shot and killed by police officers during a chase in Indianapolis, Indiana. The entire ordeal was caught on Reed’s Facebook Live. Police claim that a gun was found near Reed’s body and that it had been fired twice. After the shooting, an officer was caught on video making a distasteful joke about Reed’s funeral being “closed casket.”
Check out Luenell’s interview and photos of the event below.