As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to pick up pace and momentum, Stormzy has announced he will donate £10 million to Black British causes across the course of the next ten years.
In a statement, the rapper 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 their skin.
The donations will go towards organisations, charities, and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform, and Black empowerment within the UK.
“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,” he added.
“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.”
In 2018, the grime star launched the Stormzy scholarship with Cambridge University, which funds the degrees of two Black students per year. By supporting these students, the scheme aims to tackle the low percentage of ethnic minorities attending Oxbridge institutions.
He also heads his own publishing imprint at Penguin, #Merky Books, which aims to support a new generation of writers and also give young readers a fresh crop of new voices to engage with.