Country star Thomas Rhett and his wife — social-media guru and author Lauren Akins — are just two of the Nashville celebrities speaking out in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers. And they’re not shying away from “picking a side.”
Writing on Instagram Sunday (May 31), the famous couple speak passionately about ending prejudice — but not in an abstract way. They speak from their real lives as parents to three children, including daughter Willa Gray, who was adopted from Uganda.
“We have navigated forms of racism directly and while there is mostly overwhelming support and love for our family, sometimes there is just the opposite,” Rhett opens up.
“Because of that fear, it can be a lot easier to choose silence, but today I’m choosing to speak.”
Explaining that even though he will never know what it’s like to be profiled for the color of his skin, Rhett says he still sees it happen to friends and bandmates, and feels it’s his job as a father to teach his daughters how to overcome. “What happened to George was pure hate,” he writes, noting that he will continue to pray for families traumatized by racism around the world.
“So if there is any question on where I stand let me be clear — I stand with you, I stand with George and his family and all those who have faced racism,” Rhett writes. “I stand with my wife and my daughters. We will be fighting this fight for the rest of our lives.
Rest In Peace, George. We are not letting this go.”
Meanwhile, Akins took an even more personal approach — promising she will fight not just for her daughters’ justice, but for the justice of others as well.
“[A]s her mother, I want her to be VERY sure that I am HER mother who stands up not only for her, but for every single person who shares her beautiful brown skin,” she says. “I want to be her mother who raises her to know what it means to have brown skin and to be proud of it.”
