Neil Young shared a message of hope with his fans in a Viewpoint article for his Neil Young Archives Times-Contrarian website Saturday (June 6) that publicized his support for the Black Lives Matter movement and his disdain for President Donald Trump.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the protests as a result of the racist murders of multiple Black individuals, the former Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young member promised his fans that he feels change coming. “Although it could get a lot worse, the pandemic that is, I think we all learn together. Some of us will get sick, especially those who protested, their families, those of us who care and feel. We know black lives matter,” he wrote over the weekend. “My heart goes out to all our black families affected, so that’s all the black families through American history. I feel like we are turning a corner. All together, all colors on the street. We know our mission is the right one for America and for mankind.”
The Canadian-born singer-songwriter gained American citizenship at the beginning of 2020 after living in the United States for 60 years. Soon after, he began exercising his First Amendment right by penning a scathing later to President Donald Trump in February, but Young still mustered enough enmity for the current Commander-in-Chief in his latest letter.
“Although I think our president is responsible for a lot of this unrest we feel today as he has fanned the flames and tried to turn us against one another for his political reasons, I am thankful that we are all standing for what we believe, and I think we will be a better country for this,” Young wrote this time around. “He is, in the end, just a poor leader who is building walls around our house. I believe he will be powerless soon and I wish him the best in his next life. That sorry man will not destroy the American Dream.”
Back in his February post, the 74-year-old legend announced his support for Senator Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 election, which marks the first time Young can vote in the U.S. But in his June post, Young not only made his vote for Joe Biden clear, but he also opined which woman he’d like to be Biden’s Vice President.
“Whether you think Barack Obama’s white brother can handle this situation or not, he will most likely be our new leader, bringing compassion and empathy back to the Whitehouse. May the Great Spirit be with you Joe Biden,” his letter read. “I hope his new vice president will be Stacey Abrams, but I will take whoever he chooses. Stacy is my favorite from a good group of candidates. May the great spirit be with Joe Biden on his choices.”
He also referenced the fiery imagery of the protests springing up throughout America’s cities, interpreting it as a brighter, but not easier, future ahead. “On the streets today, we smell and see the smoke and fire autocracy as it extinguishes itself before our eyes. It will burn for a while and be scary and ugly, as is its source, but I have hope and I feel it in my bones,” Young stated. “This is not the American Way. We have a great future before us, not an easy one, a great one.”
Young supplemented his lengthy note with a shorter one yesterday (June 8), writing to his fans in a small “letter to you” on the upper lefthand corner of the NYA Times-Contrarian, “Racism is a world problem, rooted in the past and we are a world leading country. It’s an historic time. it’s a great time for humanity. love, be well, Neil.”
