On Saturday night, Rihanna, who founded the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012, was honored for her philanthropic efforts at the NAACP Image Awards.
During her acceptance speech for the President’s Award, the singer, actress, and businesswoman called attention away from herself. "OK, I’m going to try to keep this simple because tonight is not really about me because the purpose is bigger than me, right? It’s not bigger than us together, but it’s bigger than me because my part is a very small part of the work that’s being done in this world and the work that has yet to be done," she said.
She went on to stress the need for people of other races to express their solidarity by showing up to protests against police brutality.
"And if there’s any thing that I’ve learned is that we can only fix this world together," the Anti artist said. "We can’t do it divided. I cannot emphasize that enough. We can’t let the desensitivity seep in. The, 'If it’s your problem, then it’s not mine; It’s a woman’s problem; It’s a black people problem; It’s a poor people problem.' I mean, how many of us in this room have colleagues and partners and friends from other races, sexes, religions? Show of hands. Well, they want to break bread with you, right? They like you? Well, then this is their problem, too." She continued, "So when we’re marching and protesting and posting about the Michael Brown juniors and Atatiana Jeffersons of the World, tell your friends to pull up."
Back in 2017, Rihanna acceptedHarvard's Humanitarian of the Year award. "All you need to do is help one person, expecting nothing in return. To me, that is a humanitarian," she said at the awards ceremony. "What that little girl watching those commercials didn't know is that you don't have to be rich to be a humanitarian, you don't have to be rich to help somebody. You don't have to be famous, you don't even have to be college educated. But it starts with your neighbor... you just do whatever you can to help in any way that you can."
The 51st NAACP Image Awards took place in Pasadena, California. You can watch Rihanna's remarks up top.
In other news, Rihanna recently updated fans (kinda not really) on her much-anticipated ninth studio album. "Dot. Dot. Dot. To be continued," she said when asked about the album by Entertainment Tonight. "I like to antagonize my fans a little bit. Well, they antagonize me, too! So, they get it right back."
