Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal has donated $1.5 million to the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as a handful of other charities. The funds were raised at the Tidal X charity concert in October.
According to The Wrap, the donations were disclosed Feb. 5 -- the date that would have been shooting victim Trayvon Martin's 21st birthday. Trayvon, an unarmed teenager walking home from the store in Sanford, Florida, was fatally shot by self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in 2012. Trayvon's killing, and subsequent deaths of other unarmed black civilians at the hands of law enforcement, spurred the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In addition to Black Lives Matter, Tidal announced it has donated to Opportunity Agenda, Hands Up United, Sankofa.org, Community Coalition, Dream Defenders, Black Youth Project, Baltimore Justice Fund, Empowerment Development Corp., Million Hoodies, New York Justice League, Ohio Students Association/Organizing Collaborative, the Trayvon Martin Foundation, the Michael O.D. Brown We Love Ours Sons and Daughters Foundation and the Oscar Grant Foundation.
"The process of acquiring recommendations [for nonprofits] was collaborative and inspired by the message that speaks to racial and social inequities and injustice in our society," Dania Diaz, Roc Nation's managing director of philanthropy, told Mic. "Each year we will support a different initiative. Our ideology is to have a hi-fi level of consciousness in everything we do."
Martin's birthday drew commemoration and remembrances from public figures and celebrities on social media. "Trayvon Martin would have been 21 years old today," Florida Rep. Alan Grayson said. "He may be gone, but we sure haven't forgotten."
Grayson has been a leading voice against gun violence and racial discrimination in the United States.
Today, Trayvon Martin would be 21 years old. Sending love to his parents, friends, and other… https://t.co/RMrnXY5RUH
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) February 5, 2016
"Today, Trayvon Martin would be 21 years old," Marc Lamont Hill of the show Our World with Black Enterprise. "Sending love to his parents, friends, and other... "
