Erykah Badu To Aid Detroit Rape Kit Project With Donations From Concert Funds

Erykah Badu is joining the campaign to process abandoned rape kits and find the criminals connected to them.

Badu is partnering with the Right Productions to donate money from her Aug. 12 concert at Detroit’s Chene Park Amphitheater to the African American 490 Challenge.

The 490 is a partner of Enough SAID, the Michigan Women’s Foundation campaign raising money to test more than 10,000 rape kits found abandoned in a Detroit Police Department storage unit in 2009. The 490 Challenge bears that name because each kit costs $490 to test.

Kym Worthy, a Wayne County Prosecutor, worked alone to find justice for the women whose kits sat untested for years.

Worthy has since gained thousands of supporters and national attention, and has been motivated by the news of Badu’s support.

“This is a huge day for Enough SAID/AA490,” she said in a statement. “Everyone knows that Erykah Badu is a major, major talent in the music and song-writing industry. For her to lend her name, talent and time to this work is nothing short of a miracle. Justice for these forgotten sexual assault victims has been given a phenomenal assist.”

The money raised so far have funded tests of thousands of kits and allowed Worthy to establish a county prosecution team whose sole mission is to investigate the rapes connected to the kits.

The 490 Challenge would get $5 from each ticket sale as well as the proceeds from a $100-per-ticket reception before the concert and $1,000-per-person VIP reception with Badu after the show said Shahida Mausi, president and CEO of the Right Productions. Organizers also said tickets to both receptions are 100% tax deductible.

Organizers, who include the Circle, a local black women’s social issues group, hope to raise $50,000 toward the 490 Challenge’s goal of raising $657,090 by the end of the year. The 490 Challenge has raised about $250,000 so far from efforts that included a fund-raising competition between black sororities and a contest last year between supporters of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

“Together, we stand for justice,” Mausi said. “We are honored to make Chene Park the site for great artistry supporting a great mission.”