As citizens in all 50 states come together to protest police brutality and the murder of George Floyd, many musicians have offered their financial support. Sleater-Kinney is raising money through merch sales, Noname urged her celebrity followers to match a $1,000 donation, and Kanye West just announced he’s offering $2 million to charity. Now, Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes shares the success of his own fundraiser.
Thanking his fans on social media for their donations, Dev Hynes said he was able to help raise half a million dollars over the course of just two days: “I’m emotional writing this, by pulling together we just raised half a million dollars in two days to go directly to The Movement For Black Lives @mvmnt4blklives & The LGBTQ Freedom Fund. Never doubt your self worth, let it be known what can be done by a community that truly deeply cares, it infuriates me seeing large companies (yes your favourite brands that throw an image from black culture on a tee and charge you an arm and a leg to fund moral questioning defense contractors) and artists that have mined and pulled from black culture idly letting time go by and quite literally doing the bare minimum just to save face. They should be embarrassed and ashamed. We are all smarter than this and we see right through it, and I refuse to tolerate this anymore.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBBdlY2BJyT/
Just two days prior, Hynes had taken to social media to express his exhaustion. The singer said he was trying to brainstorm ways he could offer more support, so he teamed up with the clothing brand Brain Dead to donate proceeds from their sales. “I’ve been angry and distraught about the world,” Hynes said. “Thinking about what more I can do, I have donated as much as I can to organizations, I’ve protested with friends, I’ve tried to take in as much information as I can, then share it with as many people as I can. I want to do more, responses have to be in real-time.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6oyZXBWNn/
Read Dev Hynes’ full statements above and find more information about the singer’s collaboration with Brain Dead here.
