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Credit: Dante MarshallCoinciding with Election Day, Stevie Wonder has released an emotional video message encouraging people to stay positive regardless of the presidential race’s outcome, and touching on some issues he’s concerned about.
“Whether you voted or not, you still have a choice,” the soul/R&B legend declares in the clip, which is titled “The Universe Is Watching Us — What Happens Next.” “So what happens next, after all the votes are counted, debated and litigated?…What choice will you make then? We still have a choice to love or hate, to show compassion or show contempt, to advocate peace or violence. No matter who wins, we can still choose how this country will look and feel.”
Wonder also implores, “We cannot continue to be a divided United States…We must heal. And how do we heal? We treat the pain, the hurt, the wound, the illness.”
Stevie goes on to list various things that cause people pain, such as inequity, poverty, the fear of differences and the fear of losing control of the few things we can control.
Wonder also brings up the United States’ history of mistreating Native Americans, and of slavery.
“This country has never had an honest and meaningful discussion on the atonement and reparations for slavery,” he says. “So, America, we got to fix this.”
Wonder then calls on Americans to stop being unkind to each other, noting, “We’re all humans trying to live our best life. Yes, all of us want to be successful and have happy, safe lives for our families. That is who we are underneath the black and white and brown and red [and] yellow. That is who we are in the red, white and blue — humans, wanting the same thing.”
Check out the full message at Wonder’s official YouTube channel.
By Matt Friedlander
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