photo: Reuters

On Thursday, July 7, a video surfaced of the moments immediately following Philando Castile being shot multiple times at close range by a police officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota the night before. It was supposed to be a routine traffic stop; his girlfriend's four-year-old daughter sat in the backseat. 

This chilling news came two days after Alton Sterling was shot to death by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A homeless man made a 911 call when he saw Sterling selling CDs outside of a convenience store, and it ended in Sterling's murder. Police continue to murder Black men without consequence, and America is fucking mad.

Celebrities like Drake, Laverne Cox, and Harmony Korine have already expressed their frustration, anger, and sadness over these events on social media — but none of them come close to the power of Beyoncé, whose reaction was posted to her website on July 7:

"WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THE KILLINGS OF YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN IN OUR COMMUNITIES,"

Beyoncé's all-caps statement begins.

"IT IS UP TO US TO TAKE A STAND AND DEMAND THAT THEY 'STOP KILLING US.'"

"WE DON'T NEED SYMPATHY. WE NEED EVERYONE TO RESPECT OUR LIVES," she continues.

"NO MATTER YOUR RACE, GENDER, OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION. THIS IS A FIGHT FOR ANYONE WHO FEELS MARGINALIZED, WHO IS STRUGGLING FOR FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS."

In this statement, for the first time ever, Beyoncé demands that her fans get political, calling on her Beyhive and urging anyone who is reading to contact politicians and legislators in their area. She includes links, so fans can protest Sterling and Castile's killings to the right people.

Contactingthecongress, for example, got so much traffic in the moments after Bey's post went live that the website crashed.

Read her statement in full here:

Click the link in my bio to go to Beyonce.com. Turn our anger into action.

A photo posted by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on

Later on Thursday, at a concert in Scotland, Bey further honored victims of police brutality with a moment of silence.