US entertainers unite to demand end to systemic racism

US entertainers have banded together to recite 23 of the everyday activities performed by black people before they were shot and killed by police.

In the video, titled ' 23 Ways You Could Be Killed if You Are Black in America', 23 entertainers recite a list written by journalist Jamilah King after Alton Sterling's death earlier this month.

Alicia Keys and the 'We Are Here Movement' rounded up the group of celebrities, which include Pharrell Williams, Pink, Queen Latifah, Chris Rock, Beyonce and Rihanna.

"Sterling joins a long list of black people in America whose seemingly mundane actions have led, inevitably, to their deaths at the hands of police, vigilantes empowered by police, or white supremacists tacitly enabled by the criminal justice system," Ms King wrote in her original Mic article.

The actions which she listed include: selling CDs outside a supermarket, the action which many believe led to Alton Sterling's fatal shooting; walking home with a friend; riding a commuter train; calling for help after a car accident; walking up the stairwell of your apartment building; making eye contact; and laughing.

Once the celebrities read the reason, the picture of the corresponding black men and women appear on screen with their names.

"The time for change is now," Alicia Keys says at the end of the video.

"We demand radical transformation to heal the long history of systemic racism so that all Americans have the equal right to live and to pursue happiness.”