Jimmie Allen Says We Need to ‘Suffocate the Hate’

Country singer says his son's uncertain safety 'turns my stomach.'

Jimmie Allen Says We Need to ‘Suffocate the Hate’
SONOMA, CA - JUNE 15: Singer Jimmie Allen performs on Day 2 of Summer Country Music Festival 2019 on June 14, 2019 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

Country hit maker Jimmie Allen offers a simple but powerful point of view as the nation boils over with violence, calling on people everywhere to treat hate itself the way George Floyd was.

One of only a few African-American singers in country music, Allen’s take on the death of another unarmed black man at the hands of police stood out. He didn’t just express anger and heartbreak, but also the fear that so many seem to have trouble understanding, and wrapped it all up in something bigger than race. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is — if we see someone being mistreated we are supposed to call it out, he writes on Instagram. “If we see it and it doesn’t bother us, we need to check our hearts.”

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“The continued non value of life toward black men in America concerns me,” Allen says. “As a black man and a father raising a black boy I’m worried. The uncertainty of his safety turns my stomach.

“I challenge everyone to love each other and let our hearts speak louder than the injustice,” he goes on. “Love so hard that it suffocates the hate.”

Allen broke out with the romantically-charged “Best Shot” in 2018 and followed up with another Number One hit in 2019, “Make Me Want To.” He’s just one of the country stars speaking up in the wake of violent protests and riots around the nation, with others like Thomas Rhett and Maren Morris expressing similar outrage.