Camila Cabello is spreading healing justice to frontline activists…
The 23-year-old Mexican & Cuban singer is partnering with Movement Voter Fund, a charitable nonprofit that connects donors to grassroots organizations, to launch the Healing Justice Project, which will focus on giving frontline activists access to mental health support.
Cabello, who will star in Sony’s upcoming Cinderella, donated the seed money for the project and has matched all the funds raised for it to date. The first grant round totals nearly $250,000, and Cabello also has pledged to continue to donate and raise funds for future grant rounds.
The initial cohort of 10 organizations will receive grants to cover six months’ worth of mental healthcare for their activist workers. Each nonprofit has the discretion to spend the money on resources that address its individual needs and are “culturally competent,” meaning that providers are knowledgeable about the anti-racist framework to understand racial trauma. (A May 2018 American Psychological Association report revealed that just 5 percent of active psychologists are Hispanic and 4 percent are Black.)
The Healing Justice Project was inspired in part by conversations Cabello has had with California surgeon general Nadine Burke Harris about the toll of “toxic stress” (prolonged activation of the body’s stress response systems), and with such activists as Latinx Racial Equity Project founder Ana Perez and Jerry Tello, founder of the racial equity group National Compadres Network, about racial reconciliation. Cabello has been interested in both subjects ever since social media posts of hers from 2012 and 2013 featuring racist memes and racial slurs resurfaced in December 2019; the singer said she was “deeply sorry and ashamed” for her use of “horrible and hurtful language” and pledged to use her platform “to speak out about injustice and inequality.”
Cabello reflected further on what she’s learned in a conversation with Tello this week for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s fifth annual National Day of Racial Healing.
“I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of years, and especially this past year home during the pandemic, in constant reflection, learning and exploring the ways I have contributed to systems and beliefs that actively oppress others,” Cabello tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’ve realized there’s so much more I can and must do to support others who are doing the work to heal our communities…. Grassroots organizers are faced with the exhaustion, emotional burden and trauma that comes with fighting against inequitable systems. Our hope is to offer access to the necessary support they may need as they continue their critical work advocating for social justice.”
In addition to amplifying each of the 10 grant recipients through virtual engagements and on her social media accounts over the next few months, Cabello also will work to raise general awareness among the public about the psychological and emotional burnout that activists face, and to normalize mental healing and wellness practices. Prolonged exposure to racial and social injustice has been linked to higher incidences of poor mental health among affected demographics. Last summer a U.S. Census Bureau survey revealed spikes in anxiety and depression among Black and Asian Americans in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and COVID-19-related hate crimes, and a 2018 New York Times story detailed the traumatic burden shouldered by Black Lives Matter activists, two of whom lost their lives by suicide and one by heart attack.
“In the past year, a global pandemic, an overt rise in white nationalist attacks and a deeply fractious presidential election have placed challenges on organizers and activists in ways that will be felt for the long haul,” says MVF senior director Syd Yang. “Unfortunately, they often don’t get adequate support. Our partnership with Camila Cabello on the Healing Justice Project will help fill that gap and allow us to expand our support of BIPOC organizers and raise awareness about the care that is needed to drive sustainable and just social change.”
Cabello worked with MVF to identify the Healing Justice Project’s 10 recipient groups, chosen in part because they are located in regions that have recently been at the epicenters of major racial, social or electoral justice activism, and therefore have elevated levels of exhaustion, trauma and need for mental restoration. They are:
Black Leaders Organizing Communities: BLOC coordinates and harnesses the power of collective political action to represent the needs, concerns and values of local Black communities and businesses in Milwaukee and throughout the state of Wisconsin. “We simply cannot do community engagement and organizing without being mindful of our own traumas and having conversations that allow us to center our wellness,” says BLOC founder and executive director Angela Lang. “We have to take care of ourselves before we can empower anyone else.”
Faith for Justice: The St. Louis-based coalition of Christian activists, who believe that the Bible calls Christians to serve and empower the poor and challenge oppressive systems, supports Black-led organizations and liberation campaigns and helps connect churches to them.
Freedom, Inc.: Based in Madison, the self-described Black and Southeast Asian (Hmong Americans are the largest Asian ethnic group in Wisconsin) nonprofit provides direct services, leadership development and community organizing to achieve social justice among low- to no-income communities of color in Dane County.
Living United for Change in Arizona: LUCHA has worked to improve life for working families through everything from immigration services to policy change, such as its successful 2016 campaign to pass Proposition 206, which provided up to five days of paid sick leave for all employees and raised the minimum wage to $12 in 2020. “This work is difficult and often carries a heavy emotional weight,” says LUCHA co-executive director Alejandra Gomez. “It is so important that we have the practices and resources available to sustain ourselves so we can continue fighting for a better future.”
Cabello, who made her acting debut in Prime Video’s Cinderella, will star opposite Jay Will, Mary J. Blige Ejiofor in the drama Ejiofor is directing from his own script, as his sophomore feature effort.
