Stevie Wonder gives powerful speech mid-concert on grand juries, guns, and love

Stevie Wonder took a moment during a Seattle concert for his Songs in the Key of Life tour to share his thoughts on recent events.

The speech, delivered atop “Living for the City” opening riffs, began with a simple declaration: “I love each and every one of you.” Then, the legendary performer added, “Can you believe that in one month, two grand juries, secret grand juries, declined to indict two policemen for the killing of two black men? I just don’t understand that.”

“I don’t understand why our legal system would choose secrecy when there’s so much mistrust. I don’t understand why there could not have been a public trial where we could’ve been able to hear all sides. I just don’t understand. I’ll tell you what I do understand: I heard Eric Garner with my own ears, ‘I can’t breathe.’ And as much he’s apologized, I don’t understand why he did not stop. People say to me, look, ‘you know there’s all this black on black crime.’ My feeling is, guns are too acessible to everybody.

“I do understand that something is wrong, real wrong, and we as family, Americans, all of us of all colors, need to fix it with a quickness, real soon. I love you, I really love you, and know that. And this is why this song is unfortunately still relevant today.”

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