T.I. pens letter to President Obama: ‘Yes, we still can!’

T.I. isn’t giving up on the United States once Donald Trump becomes president later this month, he said in an open letter to President Barack Obama published by The New York Times Friday.

“For every one of US who has been touched by you and tasked with a choice between finding a way or walking away, I say we can and must do more,” the rapper wrote. “We cannot afford to live in a prolonged state of grief, but must remember that we have no choice but to dust ourselves off, wipe off our wounds and move beyond this barren state of shock.”

This letter is one in a series that T.I. plans to publish. Others will address Trump and “America as a whole,” the Times reports.

“My first purpose is to communicate and share my thoughts and try to be a voice for the people who may be thinking of something to say but, for some reason, may not be able to say it or not have the platform to say it,” he told the publication. “Using my platform to be a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves.”

In addition to these letters, T.I. recently released an EP titled Us or Else: Letter to the System, a record he previously told Billboard he felt compelled to make after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police officers within a day of each other this past July.

“They compelled me to do something — and I didn’t know what something was,” he said. “It was everything from protesting to meeting with the people who I know experienced similar times in history and formulated plans that contributed to the progression of the people. If I’m doing that during the day or that night, I’m gonna be in the studio, so, quite naturally, it just happened.”

T.I. further stressed the importance of taking action in his letter to Obama, where he wrote, “we will continue to remain committed to causes that are bigger than ourselves.” “We will continue to remind ourselves that, Yes, We still can!” he concluded, referencing Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan.

Read T.I.’s full letter here.