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Queen Latifah has supported BIPOC causes for years. In the 80s Latifah rapped about misogyny in the Black community and last year she began speaking about the mental health and the benefits of therapy for people of color. She even appeared on Dr. Oz’s show to discuss her mental health journey.
Latifah is hosting a fundraiser for the for the American Lung Association’s #Act4Impact initiative to raise funds for Black and Latinx frontline workers affected by the pandemic. This cause is personal to her as several of her family members are frontline workers who have battled covid. It will livestream on September 26 at 7 p.m. ET on Facebook and includes cameos by other celebrities including Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade, Katharine MacPhee, Common, and Harry Connick, Jr. Here’s more, from People:
Watching friends and family suffer from the virus spurred Latifah to action: She’s teaming up with the American Lung Association to host its first-ever livestream benefit #Act4Impact on September 26, which will raise money for the organization’s COVID-19 Action Initiative.
The initiative aims to highlight the alarming, disproportionate effects of the pandemic on Black and Latino communities throughout the United States and to work on solutions to close the gap: distributing free cloth masks, advocating for accessible, affordable coronavirus and flu vaccines and investing in respiratory research and other programs.
While everyone is at some risk for getting the coronavirus, the ongoing pandemic has highlighted the stark lack of resources and healthcare in minority communities, where infection rates have skyrocketed. According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), Black and Latino people are nearly five times as likely to be hospitalized due to coronavirus as white patients.
Public health experts have pointed to underlying health conditions, limited access to healthcare, jobs that cannot be done remotely, crowded households and the stress of dealing with racism that make Black and Latino Americans more vulnerable to the virus.
“If there’s anything we’ve seen this year, it’s that there’s some big differences in how people of color are treated in our country, whether it’s from healthcare, to policing, to this pandemic,” Latifah says. “This fundraiser is an opportunity for regular, everyday people to get good information, get a break from the craziness of it all, but also hear from some of your favorite people.”
[From People]
I really love this initiative. It is truly sad that our government has so thoroughly failed us and that it has taken celebrities and charities to fill in the gaps. I knew that the numbers for COVID infections and death were disproportionately higher in BIPOC communities but I didn’t know it was five times higher! That’s absolutely criminal and exposes the white supremacy in our government.
I have always loved Queen Latifah. She is more palatable to diverse audiences these days, but I will never forget the Queen from 1988 who rapped the song U.N.I.T.Y wearing a dashiki and African Kufi hat while exposing the misogyny in the Black community. She was an angry Black feminist and that song was like a war cry for my 12 year old self. I have loved seeing her grow into her own and expand. Not to mention she is STUNNING. I think #Act4Impact is a great initiative and a wonderful way to honor underserved communities in America. I will most likely count some change and donate what I can. Especially, since my grandmother, uncle, and father all died from lung-related diseases.
I also like that she is another well known celebrity that is advocating for mental health fitness and the benefits of therapy in the Black community. The more celebrities like her, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II that advocate for Black people to go to therapy, the better. You can learn more about the #Act4Impact initiative on their website.
Photos credit: Getty and via Instagram
Can I ask what does latinx mean? I presume it has something to do with gender but I still don’t get it, nor how is it pronounced? Which vowel comes before x in speech? And is x pronounced here like in éxito or like in Mexico or something else?
you are correct: it’s gender neutral. Prounounced like this: “Latine – ex”.
Thank you!
It’s a made up word for people who think the Spanish language is deficient and in order for it to be improved on it needs to be Anglicized.
Great idea! Go Queen!
Yes, great idea…but she should vet her guest list. I knew I read this somewhere yesterday, and here it is: https://www.towleroad.com/2020/09/katharine-mcphee-republican/
Katherine McPhee giving a “shout out” to donate to republiTHUGS while “courting a gay fanbase”. The SAME party that wants to take away their right to marriage… hell…to just EXIST. If I was a BIPOC, I’d be pretty pissed off she was included in the line up…but that’s me.
Thanx for info( TheOG) Jan
this. McPhee is disgusting.
Once the federal government saw that it was killing Black and Brown people more, and lets face it, citizens as well, they did not care and hoped it would complete evaporate us.
I will never forget a NYT (or maybe WaPo) interview with people who were out and about when the wave finally hit here, the white man said that he is not worried because his kind is not being effected.
They can finally say the quiet parts loud.
That’s so awful. That made my heart hurt and I bet he didn’t even think twice about the effects of his words.
She’s a huge talent, and it’s great she’s doing this.
I love this post and I love our Queen Latifah.
I was hugely inspired by U.N.I.T.Y. Still am.
Who you calling a bitch?
Xoxoxo, love you Celebitches
Love her. Always have. 25 years ago a friend told me that she is extremely gracious and generous to wait staff. She and all her home girls. I wish her talk show was still on. I never missed it. I thought it was very good and was really sad when it was canceled. But she’s so multitalented I guess I never really expected it to last a long time.
She’s always been an outstanding trailblazer! I am a COVID nurse working in a Latinx neighborhood. My city’s COVID positive rate is 2%. In my clinic, it’s 16%. This community is hit so hard for a few reasons: living in crowded conditions and unable to work from home. These are the people who are going out and finding whatever work they can to keep their families fed, housed, and clothed. My city has resources and is really trying hard to find funding, but it’s a massive challenge.
I’m such a fan of hers. I have enjoyed every film I’ve seen her in, she has a wonderful, glowing presence onscreen, plus a great voice. I wish she acted more.
I just donated, and added this event to my calendar!
Love Queen L. I first noticed and loved her in that movie Set It Off, she was so good, so were all the ladies who appeared in it, but she was incredible. She always seemed so grounded, like she didn’t let fame and success change who she is fundamentally. I get that same feeling about Regina King, they just seem truly authentic to me.
I love Queen Latifah and I’m glad to hear about this initiative.
Queen L is a beautiful person inside and out… and it shows.