Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard Speaks Out to Combat Racism

Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard has joined the chorus of country stars speaking out about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, an African American male, died May 25 after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest. The video that surfaced of the incident has drawn national outrage, public protests, and continuing criticism over police brutality and racist actions.

Hubbard, one-half of the Florida Georgia Line duo with Brian Kelley, shared his thoughts on Floyd’s death in two posts to Instagram. “My heart has been hurting for a week now,” the post began, “and as I’ve been processing all that’s going on in our country, it’s hard for me to find the words to say. Although the perfect words may not flow out I refuse to be silent. I hope you can all hear my heart.”

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PART I My heart has been hurting for a weeks now and as I’ve been processing all that’s going on in our country, it’s hard for me to find the words to say. Although the perfect words may not flow out I refuse to be silent. I hope you all can hear my heart. I feel guilty for being naive enough to think that racism, and hatred, due to skin color is a thing of the past. Racism is real in 2020, but doesn’t have to be our future. We, especially the white community, have the opportunity and the obligation to create real change in history. I hope and pray that we can lean on love, grace, forgiveness, compassion, and empathy moving forward. This isn’t and shouldn’t be about a political, religious, or cultural agenda. This is about humanity. This HUMAN race. “ALL lives matter,” and it’s time that we let our actions speak louder than our words. To the families and friends of the ones we’ve lost, I’m so sorry. I know words won’t fix or bring back your loved ones, but please know that you all are on my heart and in my prayers every day and have been for weeks. I will continue to pray for healing, comfort, and peace that I know first hand only God can give, through this unimaginable time. Also know, we will stand with you and fight for justice. Your loss with not be in vain. To the police officers. I know most of y’all are good people with good intentions to protect and serve, and for that I say thank you. Thanks for being willing to put your life at risk every day. We appreciate all you do and are extremely grateful. We are also sorry that there are some cops out there with different agendas, with hate in their hearts, that ruin and taint the reputation of anybody with a uniform on. We support the good ones and know you guys are fighting a tough battle right now. Just know that y’all are making a difference for the better and showing the world that if people can be taught to hate than people can also learn to love.

A post shared by Tyler Hubbard (@tylerhubbard) on Jun 1, 2020 at 8:12am PDT

Hubbard called out for love and mutual understanding during this turbulent time. “Racism is real in 2020, but doesn’t have to be our future,” he wrote. “We, especially the white community, have the opportunity and the obligation to create real change in history. I hope and pray that we can lean on love, grace, forgiveness, compassion and empathy.”

In a second post, Hubbard admitted that while he doesn’t love using social media, he looks at it as a way to address his fans personally and help instill change.

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PART II To social media. I am usually not a big fan of you honestly, but right now I am thankful for you. I’m thankful that you are bringing awareness to issues that MUST change. I am thankful that the hate crimes and racism aren’t things that can continue to happen behind closed doors. It’s time to shed light on injustice and you are a big part of that, so for that I am grateful. I also want to encourage everyone, if you have a voice (yes, that’s EVERYONE) to speak up, continue these conversations, and be part of the solution. Silence doesn’t create change. I, for one, can only speak on behalf of myself and my family, but we choose to stand for what’s right, we stand for justice. We will let love be our template and our compass. We will see people’s hearts, not their skin color. We will make a daily effort to reflect Jesus to the world and the people around us because He’s loved ALL of us first.

A post shared by Tyler Hubbard (@tylerhubbard) on Jun 1, 2020 at 8:16am PDT

“To social media. I am usually not a big fan of you honestly, but right now I am thankful for you. I’m thankful that you are bringing awareness to issues that MUST change,” he wrote. “I am thankful that the hate crimes and racism aren’t things that can continue to happen behind closed doors. It’s time to shed light on injustice and you are a big part of that, so for that I am grateful. I also want to encourage everyone, if you have a voice (yes, that’s EVERYONE) to speak up, continue these conversations, and be part of the solution. Silence doesn’t create change.”

During the past several years, Florida Georgia Line has collaborated with black artists such as Nelly, for a remix of the duo’s smash hit “Cruise,” and Ziggy Marley. Reggae star Marley joined FGL for the collaboration, “Life Is a Honeymoon.”