'I just want to live': 12-year-old boy sings heartbreaking song about being a 'young black man' in America following the death of George Floyd
- Keedron Bryant, 12, shared a song about being a 'young black man' in America amid police brutality and racism
- He sang the lyrics 'I just want to live' and 'I’m being hunted as prey'
- The video has attracted attention from several celebrities, including NBA star Lebron James and legendary singer Janet Jackson
- Footage has reached more than seven million views on Friday
- This comes in response to the death of George Floyd, 46, who was killed while in police custody this week in Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Video showed an officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes while he pleaded 'I can't breathe'
- Several protests and riots have sparked since Monday across the US
- President Trump said on Thursday that 'when the looting starts the shooting starts'
A 12-year-old gospel singer has resonated in the hearts of millions when he shared an emotional tribute about police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death.
Keedron Bryant, a young African Americans singer who competed on NBC's competition 'Little Big Shots', shared a video of himself on Instagram this week singing about being a 'young black man.'
'I’m a young black man / doing all that I can / to stand/ Oh, but when I look around / and I see what’s being done to my kind / every day, I’m being hunted as prey,' he sings.
In the refrain, he sings the heart wrenching lyrics 'I just want to live.'
'My people don’t want no trouble / We’ve had enough struggle / I just want to live / God, protect me / I just want to live / I just want to live.'
Keedron Bryant (pictured) touched the hearts of millions with a song about being a 'young black man' in America
Bryant's song comes as protests and riots flood the streets of Minneapolis in response to the death of 46-year-old Floyd.
On Monday, a disturbing video showed a white officer named Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck while he repeatedly dried he couldn't breath.
The video sparked immediate outrage, bringing the discussion of police brutality, racism and systematic oppression to the forefront of American discourse.
In the song, Bryant (pictured) sings: 'My people don’t want no trouble / We’ve had enough struggle / I just want to live / God, protect me / I just want to live'
Bryant, who's a gospel singer on NBC's 'Little Big Shots' said he was 'just singing what’s on my heart'
Bryant captioned the heartfelt post: 'Just singing what’s on my heart...hope this blesses someone.'
This rendition has since been viewed over seven million times and attracted an outpouring of praise.
Celebrities like actress Lupita Nyong'o, NBA star Lebron James and legendary pop artist Janet Jackson.
'He should not have to sing this song,' wrote Nyong'o.
Lebron James reposted Bryan't video on Thursday and its already garnered more than six million views. 'I LOVE YOU KID! I LOVE US!' he wrote.
Actress Eva Longoria also shared the video and prayed for Bryant's safety.
NBA star Lebron James reposted Bryant's video on Instagram and it received more than six million views
Eva Longoria: 'Please God protect him. And please, lead us out of these troubled waters'
Actor David Oyelowo shared Bryant's video and admitted he's struggling to explain police brutality to his three sons
'Please God protect him. And please, lead us out of these troubled waters,' she wrote.
Actor David Oyelowo, who played Dr. Martin Luther King in the 2014 movie Selma, said the news about Floyd's death overwhelmed him.
'Verified I’m struggling today. How do I explain this never ending cycle to my 3 sons. God help us,' he wrote in a post accompanying Bryant's video.
'#georgefloyd #ahmaudarbery #ericgarner #mikebrown #trayvonmartin #emmetttill and on and on and on and on...' he added.
In the comments of Bryant's video, NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. said: 'It’s really getting outta hand... just sad world man.
'LOVE ALWAYS WINS I don’t understand this world.'
Social media users held similar sentiments as Bryant's video went viral.
'My God...the fact that Keedron Bryant, a 12 yo Black boy so searingly sings about the trauma inflicted upon Black America & just wanting to live is haunting. Our children don't deserve this pain and this fear,' one woman wrote. 'Black Live Matter.'
'I’m leaving this right here. This young man’s voice speaks for all the young, old and departed Black Americans who’s lives are or were in constant danger!' wrote one man.
'RIP to brother #GeorgeFloyd who becomes yet another Black American Man MURDERED!'
Several users on social media were dismayed that a 12-year-old was forced to confront racism at such a young age
Sango: 'This young man’s voice speaks for all the young, old and departed Black Americans who’s lives are or were in constant danger!'
Several protests have erupted across the US after a video showed an officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck during an arrest
George Floyd (pictured) died in police custody on Monday and the manner of his death has sparked protests across America
Since Floyd's death, Minneapolis authorities fired four police officers, including Chauvin, but anger erupted among protestors and local residents who called for the officers' arrest.
Three nights of rioting have overrun the city, prompting several stores to be looted, several more arrests of protestors and, on Thursday night, the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct Building to be torched.
Several other protests have appeared in other places across the country, including Pensacola, Florida, and New York City.
In response, President Donald Trump last night threatened to 'assume control' of Minneapolis, warning 'thugs' in the city that 'when the looting starts the shooting starts.'
Cops were forced to flee from the burning Minneapolis Third Police Precinct late Thursday when rioters broke in and set fire to the building, roaming through its corridors with baseball bats, axes and torches.
Shocking footage showed flames billowing out of the police station just hours after prosecutors warned there is 'evidence that does not support criminal charges' in the case of the four cops accused of killing Floyd, sparking fears that they will continue to walk free.
In extraordinary scenes Friday morning, Minnesota State Patrol arrested a CNN television crew as they reported on the unrest in Minneapolis.
The National Guard was dispatched to Minneapolis on Thursday night as riots, protests and looting continue this week
Pictured: Denver police face off with protesters outside the State Capitol over the death of George Floyd
While live on air, CNN reporter Omar Jimenez was handcuffed and led away. A producer and a photojournalist for CNN were also taken away in handcuffs.
Police using pepper spray and batons were seen arriving to disperse protesters outside the police station at just after 4.30am. It was the first time authorities had been seen in the area for around an hour.
A total of 500 National Guard soldiers were deployed to the streets of Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul and Mayor Jacob Frey declared a state of emergency as rioting continued into the early hours.
Frey called the looting 'unacceptable' but raged at Trump for 'refusing to take responsibility for your own actions', saying the president 'knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis'.
Trump's first tweet in the chain accused the 'Radical Left Mayor' of showing 'a total lack of leadership' and warned he was poised to send in troops. This tweet was not hidden by Twitter.
Break-off protests over Floyd's death are building across several states, with disturbing footage showing the driver of a black SUV appearing to deliberately mow down a Black Lives Matter protester in Denver - where panic was sparked when shots were fired during a march on the Colorado State Capitol.
In New York City, NYPD officers were seen brawling on the ground with protesters as at least 70 people were arrested in the Big Apple.
Protesters in Ohio smashed the windows of the statehouse in downtown Columbus and raided the building and demonstrators damaged a police cruiser in downtown Los Angeles.
Pictured: Protestors demonstrate outside of a burning Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct on Thursday
Pictured: A protestor breaks a window of a business with a baseball bat on Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota, amid protests for George Floyd
Pictured: Demonstrators shout slogans against police officers standing guard in front of the Los Angeles Police Department next to the City Hall during protests over the Minneapolis fatal arrest of George Floyd
Over in Kentucky, seven people were shot in downtown Louisville during a protest demanding justice for black woman Breonna Taylor who was shot dead by cops back in March, as the Floyd case reignited tensions between cops and the African-American community.
President Trump waded in on the escalating violence in Minneapolis in the early hours of Friday as he warned he would step in and take over if officials fail to bring the rioting under control.
He blasted the 'Radical Left Mayor' Frey saying he needs to 'get his act together' while slamming protesters for 'dishonoring the memory' of Floyd and warning 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts'.
'I can't stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.....,' the president tweeted.
Speaking in the early hours of this morning, Mayor Frey fired back at the president and said: 'Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis.'
'Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at someone else during a time of crisis,' he said.
'Is this a difficult time period? Yes, but you'd better be damn sure that we're going to get through this.'
Frey said he understood the 'pain and anger right now in our city', but added that 'what we have seen over the last several hours and the past couple of nights in terms of looting is unacceptable'.
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