On Tuesday, Jay-Z and Team Roc, the philanthropic arm of Roc Nation, took out full-page newspaper ads across the U.S. dedicated to the memory of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of Minneapolis last week has sparked ongoing nationwide protests.
Team Roc partnered with the families of Floyd and others who have lost loved ones to police violence, as well as attorneys and activists, in order to make the ads possible.
In dedication to George Floyd. #BlackLivesMatter #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/FT25EBnPHJ
— Team Roc (@teamroc) June 2, 2020
The ad includes an extended quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from a March 1965 address in Selma, Alabama. “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right,” it reads. “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. So we’re going to stand up amid horses. We’re going to stand up right here, amid the billy-clubs. We’re going to stand up right here amid police dogs, if they have them. We’re going to stand up amid tear gas!”
Signees of the ad — which was printed in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Philadelphia Enquirer, among others — include Jay-Z, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Van Jones’ Reform Alliance and the Women’s Global Initiative. They also include the parents of Botham Jean, DJ Henry and Antwon Rose II, all of whom were unarmed black civilians killed by police officers.