The ad is written, “dedicated to George Floyd. #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd,” and quotes an excerpt from a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Al. 1965.
“So we’re going to get up in the middle of the horses. We’re going to get up here, in the middle of the belly clubs. We’re going to get up here in the middle of the police dogs, if they have any,” the King said in the ad. “We will rise in the midst of tears! We will rise in the midst of all that I can gather, letting the world know that we are determined to be free!”
Along with Jay-Za, the letter is signed by Botham Jean’s parents, DJ Henry and Antwon Rose II, young blacks all tragically killed by police, as well as Van Jones, Charlamagne tha God, Angela Rye, the Floyd Family lawyer and several activists from organizations like The Project of Innocence and To Freedom.
A ROC team (Jay-Z’s Roc Nation’s philanthropic arm) joined others to place the ad on Tuesday’s editions of the New York Times, Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Austin American Statement, Orlando Sentinel and Constitution Atlanta Journal, among several other newspapers.
According to a Jay-Z spokesman, more newspaper ads will be published on Wednesday.
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