“I CAN’T BREATHE.”
It was the video that provoked one of the single biggest protest movements in living memory, as people around the world united under the Black Lives Matter banner in outrage at the senseless killing of George Floyd. More than that, though, it was also a protest against something deeper-set and wide-reaching: the institutionalised racism that remains at the very heart of society itself. It was a cause felt keenly across the globe; one of the movement’s most memorable moments came right here in the UK as a crowd in Bristol dismantled and disposed of a controversial statue of slave trader Edward Colston.
GETTY
The music world’s response to the protests garnered particular attention, as Blackout Tuesday saw most of the industry shut down for the day on Tuesday June 2. The initiative, devised by Atlantic Records and Platoon executives, Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, was designed to push the music business to take some time to reflect on its role in battling racism, and what needs to be done moving forwards.
“RACISM IS STILL A MASSIVE ISSUE”
SKINDRED