British grime superstar Stormzy is putting his money where his mouth is with a new pledge to donate a massive amount in the fight against racial injustice in the UK.
The rapper’s Merky brands announced on Friday (June 12) that in its continuing effort to “elevate, support and amplify” the issues and voices of the black community that it will donate more than $12.5 million over 10 years to organizations, charities and movements that are committed to combatting racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment in the UK.
“The uncomfortable truth that our country continuously fails to recognise and admit, is that black people in the UK have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life – simply due to the colour of our skin,” the MC said in a statement.
“I’m lucky enough to be in the position I’m in and I’ve heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying ‘if the country’s so racist how have you become a success?!’ and I reject that with this: I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a black person works hard. There are millions of us. We are not far and few.”
To the contrary, Stormzy said that the millions like him have to fight against he odds of a racist system that is stacked against them and “designed for us to fail from before we are even born. Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.”
The statement promises that Stormzy and Merky will release additional information on the pledge soon, urging others to join in and make their own pledges. In 2018, Stormzy announced a Stormzy Scholarship that promised to pay tuition feels plus a grant for up to four years of undergraduate studies at Cambridge for two students that year and in 2019.