Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds Announced They’re Donating $200K To The NAACP Legal Defense Fund On Instagram

There are many ways to get involved with the fight for racial justice — protesting, signing petitions, and reading educational materials on white supremacy, white privilege, and police brutality. But if you have the means, donating money to non-profits and human rights organizations is one of the best ways to start reforming systems and ensure future racial equality. Celebrities, brands, and others have been stepping up to give their dollars in the wake of the George Floyd protests, and Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who donated to the NAACP, are some of the latest.

The celebrity couple took to Lively's Instagram on June 1 to respond to the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and all the Black people who have died at the hands of law enforcement before them. In the post, the two acknowledge how they've been "uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is" in America and what they're doing to be better. One of the first steps they laid out in the post was donating $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a legal non-profit that, through public education, advocacy, and litigation, fights for racial justice.

The pair also writes that they're focusing on how to raise their three daughters to be actively anti-racist. "We’ve been teaching our children differently than the way our parents taught us. We want to educate ourselves about other people’s experiences and talk to our kids about everything, all of it…especially our own complicity. We talk about our bias, blindness, and our own mistakes. We look back and see so many mistakes which have led us to deeply examine who we are and who we want to become. They’ve led us to huge avenues of education."

The post continues to note Lively and Reynolds feel it is their duty to educate not just because of George Floyd's death, but for all the Black lives lost unjustly in America. "We’re committed to raising our kids so they never grow up feeding this insane pattern and so they’ll do their best to never inflict pain on another being consciously or unconsciously. It’s the least we can do to honor not just George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner, but all the black men and women who have been killed when a camera wasn’t rolling."

On the last slide, Lively urges her followers to sign petitions, call representatives, learn about the injustices, and, of course, donate. You can follow suit and donate to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund here.