Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has provided a powerful 'Black Lives Matter' message following the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, an unarmed black man, died last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes. The officer in question, Derek Chauvin, has since been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
After a video of the incident went viral, protests have taken place across the US and beyond with a number of sporting individuals and teams voicing their support for the Black Lives Matter campaign, also going silent on social media as part of Blackout Tuesday.
In a statement issued across his social media channels, Henry, now head coach at MLS side Montreal Impact, questioned why this sort of incident is still occurring in 2020, but insisted that violence or looting is not a beneficial response.
"I have been collecting my thoughts for the past few days in order to eloquently describe my feelings on the tragic and unnecessary death of George Floyd," he said.
"It would have been far too easy to write with emotion, hatred and vitriolic sentiment in the immediate aftermath. Although those feelings are still present, I will give it a try.
"Why is this still happening in 2020? Why do the same racists applaud any ethnic minority who plays for the team they support but abuse the same minorities on the street? Why are all the methods we are using to eradicate this from our society not working?
"It's gone on for too long and we have come too far for this to be tolerated in modern society.
"I do not advocate violence, looting or destruction of property, as this will not solve any problems and many racially afflicted individuals are victims themselves of this behaviour.
"Why should the people be punished who have the same struggled, turmoil and racial abuse? The people who have worked their entire lives to feed their families and then have the fruits of the labour destroyed in protest against the issues they are suffering themselves? This is not the answer.
"However, we do urgently NEED to change, we DEMAND change and most importantly, we DESERVE change. Make it happen, NOW. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH."
