Pharrell Williams highlights need for empathy in fight against racism and social injustice

Singer views empathy as an essential factor in bringing about social change

Pharrell Williams has sought to highlight the need for empathy in the fight against systemic racism and social injustice.

The singer broached the topic in a six-minute video released on Thursday as part of a partnership between Masterclass, the online learning service, and Uninterrupted, a platform co-founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

Williams’s video is the first in a series titled “The Power You Hold”, which will focus on “issues of social injustice and systemic racism, offering education and inspiration on ways to impact change”.

“We always talk about love, and how importance love is, but you can’t love someone or something without relating to its existence,” he says in the clip. “And in order to relate, you have to empathise. You have to put yourself in that place.”

In the clip, Williams reflects on shootings that took place in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he was born, and how systemic racism and inequality tie into violence.

“I think when you use empathy as the number one tool, it helps other people who are involved in the process, whatever it is, feel included,” he adds. “It helps them feel heard.”

Williams’s video is available to watch in full now on YouTube.

Founded in 2014, Masterclass lets subscribers access online classes in a variety of topics such as acting (taught by Natalie Portman), cooking (Gordon Ramsay), and screenwriting (Aaron Sorkin).