In response to incidents of police brutality across the United States, singer Macy Gray is ramping up her nonprofit My Good.
The organization, founded quietly earlier this year, seeks to help families and loved ones of victims of police violence with financial, emotional and mental health support. The org is also at work curating different platforms for the victims’ families to be heard including support groups with grief experts and ministers among other initiatives.
One needn’t search far and wide to find examples as recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, to name a few, gripped the nation and helped inspire Black Lives Matter protests across the country. For Gray, this issue and the aftermath for families is personal. Gray watched her aunt and uncle struggle after their son was killed in a bar fight more than four years ago, so she knows first hand how the loss of a loved one can devastate a family.
“It’s impossible to ignore the fact that there are thousands of families in our country who are grieving from unaccountable deaths due to police brutality. We are here to identify those families and help them with grief counseling, legal and financial assistance,” said Gray. “I’ve spoken with a list of mothers who have lost their children in this unthinkable manner and they need help. Everyone grieves in different ways but the common thread is their question of how do they continue on — they need support and this is what we’re here to do.”
On the org’s website, Gray makes it clear that My Good is “NOT an anti-police organization,” but rather, her team’s efforts will be focused solely on doing “as we can for grieving families.” Mental health services are also of utmost importance to the entertainer. Furthermore, My Good will also curate platforms for victims’ families including support groups with grief experts and ministers.
Gray shared her vision for My Good July 25 during Richard and Demi Weitz’s “Quarantunes.” The private pandemic concert series has been a hit with Hollywood insiders and that installment featured John Legend and his organization, Free America, alongside co-hosts Dana Walden and Chrisette Hudlin and an all-star roster of musical acts. Gray spoke, performed and raised north of $10,000 for My Good thanks to supporters like Legend.
She will host her own virtual concert event this fall with a slew of special guests and a VIP meet-and-greet afterparty. Details of that event are forthcoming. “It’s exciting to see people demanding that the police system be changed, and pressuring judges and juries to hold the officers who commit murders accountable,” Gray continued. “In reality, the police have been around since the 18th century and it will be a while before they flip. MyGood.org is here to help accelerate that process on behalf of those moms, and have their backs in the meantime.”
This article originally appeared in THR.com.