Kanye West Donates $2 Million to the Families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor

On the same day it was announced that Kanye West is the world’s highest paid musician, the entertainer used some of those funds to donate $2 million to the families of recent police killing victims George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery according to CNN.

West, who is no stranger to speaking out on issues affecting black people, has also set up a college fund to cover tuition for Floyd’s daughter, Gianna. Reps for West said that he had established a 529 education plan that will fully cover the college tuition costs for the 6-year-old.

West has also made a $2 million donation to establish a fund that will help assist black-owned businesses that have been suffering in his Chicago hometown and elsewhere.

Attorney Lonita Baker, one of the lawyers representing Taylor’s family, said that West offered to pay the litigation costs to pursue the civil case.

“Typically, the costs would be deducted from any recovery that the family may receive at the conclusion of the case,” Baker told USA Today. “Kanye wanted to ensure that the family would not have to bear the brunt of those costs.”

Taylor, an EMT worker, was killed by police officers who stormed into her home on March 13 in Louisville, KY. The police officers reportedly shot at her multiple times while in the process of executing a search warrant by crashing into her apartment with a battering ram. She was shot at least eight times by Louisville police officers who were looking for a man who did not live in her apartment complex.

Floyd, who was already in handcuffs and fully contained by police officers, died in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. He was filmed pleading for air, after yelling out that he couldn’t breathe, as a white police officer ignored Floyd’s please and knelt on his neck. The officer kept the knee there for more than eight minutes.

In Georgia, Arbery died after being pursued by a white father and his son as he went jogging through the duo’s neighborhood in Brunswick on Feb. 23.