Source: Lester Cohen / Getty
The senseless murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police department has sparked protests across the nation. While all of these demonstrations begin peacefully, some cities have grown violent, which has lead to people breaking into malls and other businesses, looting and burning stores to the ground.
On Saturday night, The-Dream took to Twitter to address the damage he has seen being done to the city of Atlanta, pleading with protestors (or rather, those infiltrating the protests to turn things violent) to leave Black-owned businesses alone.
“Dear People, IF YOU ARE NOT FROM ATLANTA, DONT COME HERE AND PLEASE GO HOME. I OWN THINGS IN THIS CITY, A LOT OF BLACKS OWN THINGS IN THIS CITY, FROM BANKHEAD TO BUCKHEAD,” he wrote. “DO NOT DESTROY PROPERTY THAT NEGATES THE DECADES OF WORK. MY CHILDREN WILL NOT BE SET BACK BY YOU!”
While these comments are similar to the ideas shared by fellow Atlanta artists T.I. and Killer Mike–who voiced that the citizens of Atlanta need to protect the city rather than burn it down–a lot of residents don’t feel right being asked by a millionaire to save his assets, especially when there are more pressing issues at hand: live Black lives, which, unlike storefronts, can’t be brought back.
After continued criticism, it still doesn’t seem like The-Dream got the point, tweeting out more defenses of his previous statement.
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