The killing of George Floyd in Minnesota has set off protests in nearly every major city in America and a number of countries around the world. It has galvanized people in a call for racial justice. It has also raised an incredible amount of money for causes that support social justice. While major companies like Disney and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot have already donated millions to different causes, the GoFundMe set up to cover George Floyd's burial expenses has quietly raised over $13 million and become the GoFundMe page to see the greatest number of individual donations ever, thanks to support from major names like Lin-Manuel Miranda boosting the signal.
While other GoFundMe campaigns have raised more money, none have seen such widespread support as far as the number of people who have chosen to support it. Some of that can be attributed to the fund being promoted on social media by people with a lot of reach.
If one is wondering just how far the story of George Floyd has reached across America, then one needs only took at the donations to the GoFundMe page. In addition to raising over $13 million, that money is made up of over 478,000 individual donors, which is, according to TMZ, a record number of contributors to a single fund. The highest donations have been three separate organizations that each contributed $50,000. The vast majority of the donations are in small dollar amounts, like $10 and $20, but they've all added up to the impressive total.
It shows just how much the story of George Floyd has impacted people that so many are giving something in order to support what Floyd's life, and death, have come to represent.
The GoFundMe page originally asked for $1.5 million to cover George Floyd's burial expenses, and to set aside some money for the education of his children. The fund will have even more money to use for the educational purposes, as ESPN is reporting that the funeral expenses for George Floyd are actually being paid by boxer Floyd Mayweather. The revelation came from the CEO of Mayweather's business, Mayweather Promotions, it doesn't appear the former champion was looking to reveal his plans to cover the expenses and has declined to publicly comment.
Several other celebrities were in attendance at yesterday's funeral service in Minnesota for George Floyd, including Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and Ludacris, as well as Minnesota politicians like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Senator and former candidate for President Amy Klobuchar. Three other memorials are planned for George Floyd in the next few days, one in North Carolina and two in Houston.
A number of major celebrities have used their platforms to amplify messages of protest and to show support for Black Lives Matter. We've seen compassionate messages from everybody from Dwayne Johnson to Megan Markle. And at this point it shows no slowing down. Protests have been going on in major cities every night and it looks like that will continue.
