America has a rape kit problem. Last year, Joe Biden announced a pledge of almost $80 million to help test the literally thousands of rape kits that have yet to be tested.
Erykah Badu is now joining him in that effort by donating some of the proceeds from her August 12 Chene Park Amphitheater performance to help test the 11,000 rape kits uncovered in a Detroit police storage facility in 2009, according to the Detroit Free Press. Badu will donate $5 from each ticket sold to the African-American 490 Challenge, an organization dedicated to testing specifically those rape kits. The organization is so-named as a reference to the $490 each kit costs to test.
Those who want to do more can do so by purchasing more expensive tickets. Badu will donate all proceeds from the $100 pre-show reception and the $1,000 VIP reception.
“This is a huge day for Enough SAID/AA490,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. “Everyone knows that Erykah Badu is a major, major talent in the music and song-writing industry. For her to lend her name, talent and time to this work is nothing short of a miracle. Justice for these forgotten sexual assault victims has been given a phenomenal assist.”
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