Kanye West Donates $2 Million to Families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery
Kanye West has donated $2 million to the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, his rep confirmed to Us Weekly on June 5. Floyd, Arbery, and Taylor were all killed this year in senseless acts that have led to national outrage and protests surrounding police brutality and systemic racism.
West also created a 529 college savings plan, according to People* for Floyd’s six-year-old daughter, Gianna, and offered to help with legal costs for the Arbery and Taylor families. West’s rep told People that he has donated to Black-owned businesses in crisis in Chicago and nationwide.
West was also spotted demonstrating yesterday (June 4) in his hometown of Chicago.
While many praised the rapper’s generous donation, it also caused online discussion given his relationship with President Donald Trump and the fact that he has worn a red MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat on several occasions. “We brought the city out yesterday and I didn’t even have to tell them Kanye was coming lol,” Black Lives Matter activist Ja’Mal Green tweeted. “He just wanted to march, no talking, no cameras.. This not political when you have been brutalized in your communities growing up! Thank you guys for coming. ✊🏽✊🏽”
See more reactions to West’s donation, below:
Kanye West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, has also been speaking out about racial justice and white privilege amid the protests—and offered to help pay the medical costs of a protestor injured by a rubber bullet.
“For years, with every horrific murder of an innocent Black man, woman, or child, I have always tried to find the right words to express my condolences and outrage, but the privilege I am afforded by the color of my skin has often left me feeling like this is not a fight that I can truly take on my own,” she wrote on Instagram. “Not today, not anymore. Like so many of you, I am angry. I am more than angry. I am infuriated and I am disgusted. I am exhausted by the heartbreak I feel seeing mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children suffering because their loved one was murdered or locked away unjustly for being Black.”
Originally Appeared on Glamour
