Beyoncé’s powerful performance of the gospel song, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” made a social statement when her backup singers raised their arms in the “hands up, don’t shoot” stance. Now she and those men are sharing why the song means so much to them.
In a new documentary short giving a behind-the-scenes look at her stunning performance of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at the 2015 Grammy Awards, Bey said the song has special meaning to her because her parents and grandparents were directly affected by the events leading up to and described in the movie, Selma.
Watch Take My Hand, Precious Lord: The Voices below.
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“I wanted to find real men that have lived, have struggled, cried and have a life and a spirit about them,” she said in the video. “I felt like this is an opportunity to show the strength and vulnerability in black men.
“My grandparents marched with Dr. King and my father was part of the first generation of black men that attended an all-white school,” Beyoncé said of her dad and former manager, Mathew Knowles. “My father has grown up with a lot of trauma from those experiences. I feel like now I can sing for his pain. I can sing for my grandparents’ pain. I can sing for some of the families who have lost their sons.”
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The men in the short documentary each share their own experiences about what it’s like to be black in America — and their words should make you very angry.
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