With the election just one week away, many musicians are using their platform to encourage fans to vote. Even international artists like Dua Lipa are calling on Americans to cast their ballots on election day. In order to further understand issues on the American ballot this year, Lipa sat down with Bernie Sanders to ask the senator questions about voting, racial justice, and universal healthcare.
Starting off the conversation, Dua asked Sanders if Americans had the chance to vote on issues of police brutality on this year’s ballot. “I personally feel very deeply about Black Lives Matter and seeing justice for police brutality,” Dua said. “If I’m American and I feel strongly about that, is that something that I can vote for or vote on with this ballot?”
Bernie responded, “Absolutely.” The senator said: “We have to deal with the reality that in America, we have more people in jail today, disproportionately Black, Latino, and Native American, than any other country on earth. We have more people in jail than China does, which is a communist authoritarian country four times our size. It’s about racism and it’s about poverty and that’s an issue that Biden and a Democratic Congress will deal with.”
Eventually, Dua turned the conversation to the topic of healthcare. The singer said that because she has grown up in a country that considers healthcare a right, she doesn’t understand why some Americans are against making it universal. “This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been devastating on so many levels,” she said. “All over the world, the one thing it’s done is really exposed the inequality in healthcare.”
To answer, Bernie turned her question back around. “When you get sick, or somebody in your family has to go to the hospital, how much does it cost for you to go?” he asked. Dua responded, “It’s completely free. For us Brits, we consider the NHS a right, just like having running water in our house.”
Watch Dua Lipa and Bernie Sanders discuss voting and universal health care above.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.