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Artist News
Stormzy pledges £10 million to fight racial inequality
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 12 June 2020
Stormzy and his #Merky company have pledged £10 million over the next ten years to “organisations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment within the UK”.
In a statement, the rapper says: “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”.
“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?'” he continues.
“I reject that with this: I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a black person works hard”, he counters. “There are millions of us. We are not far and few. We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us 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”, he says.
Further details of how the money will be spent will be announced in the coming days, and Stormzy has urged others in a position to do so to make similar commitments.
