Words by Smiley Team
Stormzy - world renowned British rapper - and his brand #Merky have revealed that he will be donating £10m ($12.6m) over the next decade to Black organisations in the UK.
In a statement issued by #Merky, the company said that the financial commitment will go towards “organizations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment within the UK”.
“At #Merky, we have always used our brand to elevate, support and amplify issues and the voices of the black community,” said #Merky. “To continue and expand upon our activism and philanthropic work, today we announce that Stormy pledges 10 million pounds, over 10 years, to organizations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and black empowerment within the UK.
In a statement, Stormzy said: “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?!’
“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. 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.”
Stormzy’s financial commitment to fighting racial inequality comes as protests that have swept across the world started in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and part of the wider part of the Black Lives Matter movement which began in July 2013.
#Merky Books is Stormzy’s own imprint collaboration with Penguin Random House, launched in July 2018. It is due to publish the autobiography of Malorie Blackman, the author of the internationally renowned Noughts And Crosses books, in 2022.
