Michelle Obama helped launch this year’s Roots Picnic with a passionate message about voting.
Before kicking off the virtual festival on Saturday (June 27), the former first lady joined The Roots‘ Questlove and Black Thought on a split screen to urge voter registration for the upcoming election in November.
“These past few months have been pretty heavy for just about everyone, and the truth is we still have our work cut out for us in the weeks and months ahead,” Obama said. “So before we dive into the Picnic, I want to remind everybody that we’ve got an election coming up, and it couldn’t be more important that everyone makes their voice heard this time around.”
This year’s Roots Picnic partnered with Obama’s nonpartisan nonprofit When We All Vote for the event. Obama said the organization’s goal is to increase voter participation in “this and every election.”
People interested in registering to vote can text ROOTS to 56005, or visit WhenWeAllVote.org.
“We may not all sound like SZA or Kirk Franklin, but we all deserve to have our voices heard at the ballot box come November,” Obama said in closing.
Saturday’s virtual Roots Picnic featured performances by The Roots, H.E.R., Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, SZA, Kirk Franklin, Snoh Aalegra, Earthgang, G Herbo, Polo G, D Nice and Musiq Soulchild (backed by The Roots).