JAY-Z Takes Out Full-Page Newspaper Ads Across the U.S. in Dedication to George Floyd

The ad was signed by George Floyd’s attorneys, as well as parents of black men who were killed by police

ADVERTISEMENTFBTweetMorePauseUnmuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 0:06Loaded: 0% Fullscreen×YOU MIGHT LIKEGEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH WAS A HOMICIDE, SAYS MEDICAL EXAMINER IN LATEST REPORTLIZZO BREAKS DOWN WHILE ADDRESSING RACISM AMID PROTESTS: ‘OPEN YOUR MIND, OPEN YOUR HEART’

JAY-Z and the Roc Nation family have taken out multiple full-page ads in newspapers across the United States in honor of George Floyd, whose death while in Minneapolis police custody has sparked nationwide protests over racial injustice.

The ad, which was shared on Roc Nation’s social media pages, quotes a passage from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 1965 address in Selma, Alabama.

“Only way we can really achieve freedom is to somehow hunker the fear of death. But if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live,” the ad reads. “Deep down in our nonviolent creed is the conviction — that there are some things so dear, so things so precious, so things so eternally true, that they are worth dying for.”

JAY-Z SHAREIF ZIYADAT/GETTY IMAGE

“A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right,” it continues. “A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. So we’re going to stand up amid horses. We’re going to stand up right here, amid the billy-clubs. We’re going to stand up right here amid police dogs, if they have them. We’re going to stand up amid tear gas!”