Lady Gaga Donates to 10 Organizations Fighting Racism

Lady Gaga has been a career-long philanthropist. Possibly most notably, she started her Born This Way Foundation to fight bullying and provide services for youth (many times LGBTQ+ youth) in 2011. She started this particular effort with her mother Cynthia Germanotta. This year, outside of that work, she helped to raise over one hundred million dollars to assist in relief from the ongoing global pandemic. As a part of that effort, she worked with the World Health Organization to gather big-dollar donations, then headlined a globally broadcast special (where she performed a song with Celine Dion) that boasted public service announcements to keep viewers informed. Over the past few days, she's turned her attention to systemic racism and related forms of social justice.

On May 31, the multi-hyphenate performer uploaded a long message to Twitter.

I have a lot of things to say about this, but the first thing I want to say is I'm afraid to say anything that will incite further anger, although that is precisely the emotion that's justified," she wrote. "I do not wish to contribute to more violence, I wish to contribute to a solution." In the letter, she wrote of being outraged by the death of George Floyd, who killed at the hands of police, as well as Black lives taken over "hundreds of years" as a "result of systemic racism and the corrupt systems that support it." She went on to call out Donald Trump as a racist.

"We MUST show our love for the Black community," she wrote. "As a white, privileged woman, I take an oath to stand by that. We haven't, as a privileged community, done enough to fight racism and stand up for those people who are being killed by it." At the time, as the star had made no public announcements about what actions she had or would be taking, some called for her to "open her purse." Given her history, that was likely always the plan and possibly something she had already done. Now, she has announced a slate of contributions to various organizations doing this work.

"Because of the voices of the people, a principle this country was founded upon, now all four officers have been arrested for the racist and brutal murder of George Floyd," she wrote in another message. "I hope that all cops who have engaged in or are engaging in any racist activity are met with the highest form of law & order, although we know the law & order in this country is predicated upon racism and is itself corrupt."

"I applaud the brave citizens of this nation that are speaking up, and I support the unsupported voices of the Black community," she later wrote. "I wish for their voices to be heard loudly and clearly, and that they will feel loved and amplified by allies. I know you know how much I believe in kindness." This all comes as Gaga has paused the roll out for her latest album, Chromatica.

At the end of the letter, she wrote that the thread to follow would be a listing of "important advocacy organizations "I'm donating to in support of this continuous fight for racial and social justice. I encourage you to learn about the important work they do and how you can get involved. Black Lives Matter." The star did not disclose the amount she donated.

We have included the listing below for those who would like to, and are able to, follow her lead.

Marsha P. Johnson - marshap.org

Loveland Foundation - thelovelandfoundation.org

Black Lives Matter - blacklivesmatter.com

Campaign Zero - joincampaignzero.org

NAACP Legal Defense Fund - naacpldf.org

Color of Change - colorofchange.org

Black Futures Lab - blackfutureslab.org

Fair Fight - fairfight.com

National Lawyers Guild - nlg.org

Community Justice Action Fund - cjactionfund.org

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