Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds admitted to their "own blindness" in the past when it
comes to white privilege, and made a $200,000 donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Ariana Grande has been seen out at the protests, Beyoncé has been talking about racial inequalities
on social media, and many others like Chrissy Teigen, have been making big donations to
go towards bailing out those arrested for protesting.
And now, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are also taking action.
The couple announced that they have donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
which is an organization that strives for racial justice by making structural changes
to expand democracy and eliminate disparities through litigation, advocacy, and public education.
And Blake and Ryan, who got married on a plantation back in 2012, said that they're "ashamed"
over how "uninformed" they've been in the past and vowed to teach their children to
do better.
They’ve been criticized in the past for romanticizing the slave plantation, Boone
Hall, in Charleston, South Carolina, where they tied the knot.
Boone Hall, like many plantations, used slaves to produce bricks and cultivate crops.
Major wedding planning sites like Pinterest and The Knot have removed all photos of Blake
and Ryan’s wedding, along with any other weddings that romanticized former slave plantations.
And now, in their statement they urged others to follow suit by educating themselves and
vowing to be allies to the black community moving forward.
They said quote, “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.”
The couple went on and said quote, “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."
And to further take a stand against systemic racism, Blake and Ryan made a large donation
while also pledging to start voting for candidates with platforms that mirrored these ideals
as well.
They explained that quote, “Last week we contributed $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund.
We stand in awe of this organization and its leader, Sherrilyn Ifill.
And this is just a start.
We also pledge to stay educated and vote in every local election.
We want to know the positions of school board nominees, sheriffs, mayors, councilpersons.
We want to know their positions on justice.
But mainly, 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.”
And to end their statement, Blake and Ryan encouraged their followers to get involved
by donating to similar organizations, signing petitions, and reaching out to their local
representatives to demand action.
And many of their fans are continuing Blake and Ryan’s important conversation in the
comment section of their IG post of the statement.
One person wrote quote, “This is real.
My mother had the conversation with me at 10 years old about why I should be afraid
of police as a Black child.
White people will never understand that.”
Another fan chimed in and said quote, “#blacklivesmatter And before anybody dares to say "aLl liVeS
mAtter" and tries to argue with that: This is not about you.
Check your privilege & don't make this about you!”
And another person praise Blake and Ryan saying quote, “This is how you put your money (and
your privilege) where your mouth is #blacklivesmatter”
And with our platform we as Clevver also want to make sure we’ve made our stance clear
that we all stand with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and all
of the other black people who have tragically lost their lives due to the color of their
skin.
We’ve linked some resources and places to donate down in the description below and we
will continue to cover these stories and have these conversations because this is only just
the beginning.
Please share your thoughts on everything going on down in the comments below.
And if you want to hear about which celebs are demanding justice for George Floyd, click
right over here for another Clevver News video.
I’m your host, Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys.