During a concert Sunday in Quebec City, soul legend Stevie Wonder announced he would not be performing in Florida until its controversial Stand Your Ground laws were repealed.
Those laws have been widely credited with contributing to the aquittal of George Zimmerman, the admitted shooter of Trayvon Martin. Although many have argued that Stand Your Ground had no bearing on the trial, Ta-Nehisi Coates pointed out in his article "Trayvon Martin and the Irony of American Justice" that it was in fact cited in the instructions to the jury.
You can watch Wonder's speech in the video above, and read it transcribed below:
"The truth is that—for those of you who've lost in the battle for justice, wherever that fits in any part of the world—we can't bring them back. What we can do is we can let our voices be heard. And we can vote in our various countries throughout the world for change and equality for everybody. That's what I know we can do.
"And I know I'm not everybody, I'm just one person. I'm a human being. And for the gift that God has given me, and from whatever I mean, I decided today that until the Stand Your Ground law is abolished in Florida, I will never perform there again. As a matter of fact, wherever I find that law exists, I will not perform in that state or in that part of the world.
"Because what I do know is that people know that my heart is of love for everyone. When I say everyone I mean everyone. As I said earlier, you can't just talk about it, you have to be about it. We can make change by coming together for the spirit of unity. Not in destruction, but in the perpetuation of life itself."
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