Skip to footer

How the Justice for Flint concert helped Michigan residents

Following the water crisis in Flint, celebrities including 'Creed' director Ryan Coogler and 'Selma' helmer Ava DuVernay helped put together a concert to raise money for the residents. The event raised $145,000.

|
Conor Ralph/The Flint Journal-MLive.com/AP
Stevie Wonder performs at the #JusticeForFlint event in Flint, Mich.

There was another place to find a lot of celebrities on Oscars night, but it wasn’t in Los Angeles.

On Feb. 28, the same night as the Academy Awards ceremony, organizations including Blackout for Human Rights (of which “Creed” director Ryan Coogler, “Selma” director Ava DuVernay, and “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Jesse Williams are members) held a benefit concert for those in Flint, Mich. 

Blackout for Human Rights, Michigan Faith in Action, the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, and PICO National Network’s Live Free Campaign organized the event to benefit Flint, where cost-cutting measures resulted in a lead-contaminated municipal water supply.

People including musician Stevie Wonder, singer Janelle Monae, Coogler, and Jussie Smollett of the Fox TV show “Empire” took the stage. Performances included song, dance, and poetry. Hannibal Buress of “Broad City” hosted and the program was streamed on RevoltTV, a cable network that is owned by producer Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy.

Mona Hanna-Attisha, a doctor who drew attention to the lead in the Flint water, spoke during the event as well.

“You are giving us music, you are giving us laughter, you are giving us hope, you are giving us love,” Dr. Hanna-Attisha said. “I can't imagine spending Oscar night anywhere else but here.” 

Ms. DuVernay said the night wasn’t selected because it was also the time when the Oscars ceremony was being held. 

“[That industry] happens to be my and Ryan [Coogler]'s world, but when it came up that this was a possible date that worked for everyone else, it felt wrong to say, 'Hey, guys, we can't do that date, there's something happening in L.A.,'” the director told the Hollywood Reporter. “There are other things going on in the world, and this is one of them.” 

The fundraising goal for the evening was $100,000, and the event ended up raising $145,000. Around 3,000 people are estimated to have donated.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to How the Justice for Flint concert helped Michigan residents
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2016/0301/How-the-Justice-for-Flint-concert-helped-Michigan-residents
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe