Like so many others, Lizzo is feeling emotional about the violence happening amid ICE’s immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, where the star lived while first starting her music career.
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In a Wednesday (Jan. 28) video posted to her social media profiles, the artist addressed the political turmoil unfolding in the city she once called home before offering ways her followers could help, if they have the means. “I know it can feel helpless watching all of this unfold on our phones, but after talking to local organizers on the ground in Minneapolis, here’s a couple ways you can help,” she began.
Lizzo went on to share a GoFundMe for Jayla Ramirez, a person who wrote on the fundraising site that their father had been detained by ICE in Minneapolis and is in need of $20,000 for bail and $10,000 for lawyer fees. The Grammy winner also shouted out Smitten Kitten, a Minneapolis sex shop that has become a haven for mutual aid and resources for people in need, and Glam Doll Donuts, which Lizzo said is located across the street from the spot where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 24, as places in need of support.
“I am fully aware of the financial recession that we’re going through in this country,” Lizzo noted. “When I make videos like this, I am never ever asking my fans or anyone who is in a less fortunate financial situation than me to donate to a GoFundMe. I make videos like these, because I don’t have the phone number of every rich and famous person or influencer who can help in my phone.”
“My heart goes out to Minneapolis,” she added, getting choked up. “In the years that I lived there, whether it was Philando Castile, whether it was Jamar Clark, whether it was George Floyd, this seems to happen — the injustice happens there. And what I’ve also seen is the community rise up every single time. If I find more ways to help, I will be sharing them.”
Throughout January, ICE has been stationed in Minneapolis for an ongoing immigration enforcement operation that has sparked nationwide outrage and countless local protests. Pretti is just one of two civilians who have been fatally shot by ICE officers in the first month of the year, with agent Jonathan Ross killing Renee Good on Jan. 7. The Donald Trump administration has maintained that both were instances of officers acting in self-defense, but many believe that videos captured by eyewitnesses suggest otherwise in both cases.
Shortly after posting her video about Minneapolis, Lizzo shared another emotional update about another heartbreaking development in a different city. Los Angeles activist Shirley Raines — who built a following on TikTok with videos in which she distributed food, clothing and other essentials to unhoused people on Skid Row — died at the age of 58. The news was announced Wednesday by her charity, Beauty 2 The Streetz, which didn’t give a cause of death.
“I am devastated,” a tearful Lizzo said in Instagram Stories, calling Raines an “incredible woman” and noting how the two women often collaborated on charitable efforts. “When the public was turning its back on me, she never did. She was like, ‘Stay encouraged.’ She would always send me messages of love, and she would never ever ask for anything in return.”
“People like her are rare,” Lizzo added. “Her work is not over. She overserved the underserved … I’m so sad that you’re gone.”
Watch Lizzo’s TikTok on how to help people in Minneapolis and support Jayla Ramirez below.
