Rihanna, Jack Dorsey team up to fund 'defund the police' groups
A few of the groups go as far as saying police should be completely abolished
Officer-related suicides at an all-time high amid COVID, defund the police: Mass. police chief
Salisbury, Massachusetts Chief of Police Tom Fowler says New England police departments are struggling to hire new recruits.
Pop superstar Rihanna and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey are teaming up through their foundations to fund groups that support defunding the police.
Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation announced its partnership with Dorsey’s Start Small LLC to give "climate justice" grants to a dozen and a half groups.
"We are proud to commit $15 million to 18 organizations working intersectionality on climate justice across the U.S. and Caribbean in collaboration with [Jack’s] [Start Small]," the foundation tweeted Tuesday morning, sharing a list of partnered organizations.
NFL FUNDING ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ GROUPS THROUGH ‘INSPIRE CHANGE’ PROGRAM
Several of the new partner organizations, however, are advocates of defunding the police.
Rihanna arrives at The Fashion Awards 2019 at Royal Albert Hall on Dec. 2, 2019, in London, England. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
The Center for Popular Democracy, one of the organizational partners, published a blog post calling for the defunding of police in July 2020 during the riots following George Floyd’s murder.
Another partner, the Movement for Black Lives, wants to abolish the police and prisons entirely and fellow new partner Black Visions said the group envisions a "Minneapolis without policing" and has also called for the abolition of police and prisons.
Additionally, a different partner – the NDN Collective – wants to shut down Mount Rushmore, with president and CEO Nick Tilsen calling the American monument "an international symbol of white supremacy."
"Mount Rushmore is an international symbol of white supremacy, and as people across America rightfully pull down statues of white supremacy, we have to look long and hard at how this national monument in the Black Hills upholds and maintains white supremacy on Indigenous lands," Tilsen said in an October 2020 press release.
Jack Dorsey on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention June 4, 2021, in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
"Our LANDBACK efforts started at Mount Rushmore as we not only took a stand against white supremacy and Trump’s racist rhetoric that day, but also in demanding that Mount Rushmore be shut down as a national monument and that all public lands in the Black Hills be returned to Indigenous people," he continued.
The announcement comes as crime, including attacks against police, continue to rise nationally.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Other prominent organizations and businesses, such as the National Football League, have also thrown their hat behind defund the police organizations.
Neither Start Small nor the Clara Lionel Foundation responded to FOX Business’ requests for comment.