Los Angeles, June 2 (IANS) Hollywoods bigwig director JJ Abrams has pledged donations of $10 million towards the Black Lives Matter movement to take the fight against racism forward, following the death of George Floyd.
The “Star Wars” director has joined hands with his wife Katie McGrath and production company Bad Robot to pledge the donation over the next five years to groups with anti-racist agendas, reports variety.com.
In a statement posted on the Bad Robot Instagram page, Bad Robot Productions and the Katie McGrath & JJ Abrams Family Foundation announced charitable donations to a number of organisations.
As a start, they will donate $200,000 each to groups — Black Lives Matter LA, Black Futures Lab, Community Coalition, Equal Justice Initiative, and Know Your Rights Camp.
“Enough is enough,” the statement began.
“Enough police brutality. Enough outsized privilege. Enough polite conversation. Enough white comfort. The centuries long neglect and abuse of our Black brothers and sisters can only be addressed by scalable investment. Corporate and private philanthropy can never achieve the impact needed to address these systemic inequities, but companies and individuals who are able must do what we can until our political leaders lead,” it continued.
The pledge comes at a time when the US is facing wide protests following the death of Floyd.
Floyd, aged 46, died last week after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, held him down with a knee on his neck though he repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe”, and “please, I can’t breathe”. Chauvin was arrested and charged with three-degree murder and manslaughter.
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