Erykah Badu Is Using an Upcoming Concert to Help Rape Victims
Erykah Badu is drawing attention to an important cause and is putting her activist spirit into action once more.
As reported, the kindhearted musician will be donating a large portion of the proceeds from her concert in Detroit on August 12 to the African-American 490 Challenge.
The organization is dedicated to test the remainder of the 11,300 rape kits that were discovered in 2009 inside a Detroit police station. As a result of being abandoned, the rape kits are currently untested and Badu is helping to raise money to finish the tests.
Since 2009, about 10,000 of the neglected rape kits have been tested, and this was made possible by fundraising and activism efforts. Each one costs $490 to process, which led to the African-American 490 Challenge being founded in the first place. Their goal is to “raise private-sector funding to test these rape kits, investigate the crimes and prosecute the resulting case, thus securing justice and closure for victims and ensuring a safer community for everyone.”
Badu has announced that $5 from each ticket sale will go towards the worthy cause, as well as the proceeds from different ticket tiers, including a $100 ticket for a reception before the concert and a $1,000 per person VIP reception with Badu following her performance.
The organization’s goal is to raise $50,000 from Badu’s concert and fundraising efforts, building towards a year-end goal of $657,000.
“It should come as no surprise that an artist with Erykah Badu’s impressive history of social consciousness would join forces with the Black women leaders of Detroit to address this important social issue,” Kim Trent, the organization’s president, said in a statement. “We are very excited that she is lending her considerable talent to our cause.”
