In August 2014, Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo. The community was outraged and many celebrities joined in the fight to create a bigger movement through the tragic incident, many voicing their opinion on social media, like twitter, straight to the public eye.
Now, Ferguson-Florissant Superintendent Joseph Davis has begun a literacy campaign that aims to raise $2 million to fund the 11,000 children that would benefit directly. The students that live in St. Louis County attend the school, these students are predominantly African-American and about 76 percent live in poverty.
Superintendent Davis decided that he wanted to put these "activists" to the test and wrote a letter reaching out to these celebrities asking for donations. In this letter Davis wrote, "I believe that providing all children with a first-rate education is the single most powerful tool in eradicating bias and building community." His campaign aims to provide new books and technology to provide a higher level of education for these children.
The requests for personal and financial support went out to 170 celebrities including:
- John Goodman
- Sheryl Crow
- Akon
- Katy Perry
- Magic Johnson
- Pharrell Williams
- Rihanna
- Chris Rock
In my opinion this is an amazing idea, nothing I have seen before. It's a great way to ask people (especially wealthy people) to put their money where their mouths are. Think about it, we all like to share our thoughts about what we see in the media (twitter, instagram, Facebook,etc.), but how many of us actually take action? Get involved? Donate?
This is relatively recent, his letter came out last April. Thought I'd share so we can all keep an eye on what celebrities do decide to publicly support this campaign!
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