Anne-Marie Kommers ’19 | June 17, 2020

Stop killin’ me and you’ll see

That I am more than you think

Not just some dog in the street

There’s something special in me.

Thus begins “Stop Killin’ Me,” a song Emorja Roberson ’17 MSM wrote last month amid ongoing protests against the police killings of George Floyd and other African American men and women. Roberson’s dark, plaintive melody articulates the violence and injustice that victimized Floyd and others before him:

I holler that I can’t breathe

Your knee drove deeper in me

And yet you felt my life depleting from my body

“Stop Killin’ Me” is not Roberson’s first song to resonate with current events. In March he released “He’ll Be With You,” a composition originally written in 2019 that he realized could offer comfort during the coronavirus pandemic.

Though uncertain, slightly fearful

Wondering where your life may go

Let your faith lead, let it guide you

And know Jesus will be with you.

The song struck such a chord that Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother, shared it on Instagram.

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