Kanye West Donates $2 Million, Covers College Tuition for George Floyd’s Daughter

Rapper Kanye West attends the WSJ Magazine 2019 Innovator Awards at MOMA in New York City, on Nov. 6, 2019. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Kanye West has donated $2 million to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, with part of the fund going towards the education of Floyd’s daughter.

The American rapper’s donation will include funding for struggling black-owned businesses in his Chicago hometown and other cities across the United States, and will help cover legal fees for both Arbery’s and Taylor’s families.

A representative for West told CNN that the college tuition for Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter will be fully covered by a 529 education plan.

Kentucky medical worker Breonna Taylor, 26, was killed in her home on March 13 when law enforcement officers executed a “no-knock” drug warrant after midnight. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a handgun, which he legally owned, believing that the Louisville home he and Taylor shared was being broken into.

In the confrontation, a police officer was struck by a round. Police returned fire, hitting Taylor eight times, resulting in her death. No drugs were found in the home. Her case is currently under investigation by the FBI.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), meanwhile, is investigating the February murder of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, Georgia, as a hate crime.

Arbery was fatally shot on a residential street on Feb. 23 as he ran through the small Georgia neighborhood. Three men were arrested in connection with Arbery’s death last month after video footage of the incident emerged on May 5.

Community activist and onetime mayoral candidate Ja'Mal Green Chicago, who organized the protest with Chicago Public Schools students, said that West, 42, attended the Thursday protest to show solidarity with Floyd and to support their calls for Chicago Public Schools to terminate a contract with the Chicago Police Department for police at schools. They’re asking for schools to prioritize funding for therapists, extracurricular activities, and restorative justice.

Floyd was a 46-year-old black man who died last week in police custody in Minneapolis after an officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

A widely circulated video showed Floyd lying face-down on the pavement and handcuffed, as an officer was seen kneeling on the man’s neck for nearly 9 minutes. Meanwhile, the footage showed Floyd telling officers that he couldn’t breathe before his body went motionless.

According to a Minneapolis Fire Department report (pdf), Floyd was unresponsive and “pulseless” when he was being transported into an ambulance by paramedics from the site of his arrest to the hospital.

The police officer who was seen kneeling on the man’s neck, Derek Chauvin, on Tuesday had his charges upgraded from third-degree murder, to second-degree murder charges. Under Minnesota law, second-degree murder is defined as when a person causes the death of another person with intent without premeditation.

The three other police officers involved in the arrest have since been fired, and have been charged with aiding and abetting his murder, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office revealed Tuesday.

The “Justice for George Floyd/CPD out of CPS” demonstration West joined was on the city’s South Side on Thursday evening, and was one of two taking place across the Chicago.

Green posted to Facebook, “Man Kanye called me yesterday and said he wanted to pop up at a protest. He wanted to just blend in. He donated 3 million to George Floyd family today. Regardless of how you feel about him, I appreciate him for his good deed and marching with young people to end CPD’s contract with CPS!”