Earlier this week, Jay Z was instrumental in providing "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts in support of the family of slain Staten Island resident Eric Garner to members of the Brooklyn Nets—and when it comes to getting involved with the furor surrounding Garner's murder by the hands of New York City Police officer Daniel Pantaleo, he's not stopping there. As pointed out in a Tweet from NY governor Andrew Cuomo's Director of Communications Melissa DeRosa, Jay met with Cuomo yesterday to discuss criminal justice reform; Daily Kos reports that at the meeting, Jay specifically urged Cuomo to hire a special prosecutor to further investigate Garner's death.
.@NYGovCuomo and Shawn "JAY Z" Carter met today to talk about criminal justice reform pic.twitter.com/Ud9d95cIRf
— Melissa DeRosa (@melissadderosa) December 10, 2014
Daily Kos also reports that Jay has donated to the ongoing protest efforts in Ferguson, Missouri, where unarmed teenager Mike Brown was murdered by police officer Darren Wilson this past summer (a grand jury decided not to press charges against Wilson last month); the site also claims that he's continued to fund the tuition of the surviving children of Sean Bell, who was murdered by a team of undercover and plainclothes NYPD officers in 2006. With all the talk of hip-hop's lack of response following the recent (and, if we're being honest, continually ongoing) spate of police brutality, it's good to hear that one of its most powerful stars has been quietly taking part in social action.
Lead photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images
