Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds Donate $200,000 to NAACP
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds announced that they've donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund following the police killing of George Floyd.
The couple expressed their dedication to being allies of the Black community and their faith in the NAACP to lead their community and the country during this time.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are showing their support for the Black community amid a time of racial unrest across the country.
On Sunday, the couple took to Instagram to announce that they were donating $200,000 to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund (NAACP LDF). The couple made the joint announcement with a message explaining how now is the time for the United States—as well as the rest of the world—to acknowledge the everyday effects of institutional racism.
"We've never had to worry about preparing our kids for different rules of law or what might happen if we're pulled over in the car. We don't know what it's like to experience that life day in and day out. We can't imagine feeling that kind of fear and anger. We're ashamed that in the past we've allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is," began the couple's message. "We've been teaching our children differently than the way our parents taught us. We want to educate ourselves about other people's experiences and talk to our kids about everything, all of it… especially our own complicity. We talk about our bias, blindness and our own mistakes. We look back and see so many mistakes which have led us to deeply examine who we are and who we want to become. They've led us to huge avenues of education."
A post shared by Ryan Reynolds (@vancityreynolds) on May 31, 2020 at 6:09pm PDT
The couple continued by declaring they hope to teach their children to break the pattern of neglect that allows everyday racism to continue. Acknowledging not only the recent death of George Floyd, they also wrote about Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Eric Garner, as well as how they hope their contribution will be a small way to honor their unjust deaths.
"We're committed to raising our kids so they never grow up feeding this insane pattern and so they'll do their best to never inflict pain on another being consciously or unconsciously," declared the couple. "It's the least we can do to honor not just George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner, but all the black men and women who have been killed when a camera wasn't rolling."
Reynolds and Lively concluded their statement by expressing their faith in the work of the NAACP and their dedication to being allies for the Black community.
"We want to use our privilege and platform to be an ally. And to play a part in easing pain for so many who feel as though this grand experiment is failing them."
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