Jeff Tweedy reveals his percentage of songwriting royalties will go to I Grow Chicago

In June 2020, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy annnounced that he would be donating five percent of his total songwriting royalties to organisations working towards racial justice, and also urged his peers and industry leaders to do the same.

CBS This Morning has revealed in a new interview today (15 March) that Tweedy's donations will be going to I Grow Chicago to begin with, a non-profit organisation that assists the Englewood neighbourhood of Chicago with food assistance, education, and job skills training.

Speaking about his decision to donate to I Grow Chicago, Tweedy said, "Their mission statement quotes Cornel West saying, 'Justice is what love looks like in public.' That's something we believe very deeply in our family."

When asked if he considers his donations as a form of reparations, Tweedy replied, "Yeah. It's a tricky word to use for some people. We have a large segment of our population that worked to build this country and were never paid for it. That needs to be repaired."

CBS This Morning's Anthony Mason asked Tweedy if he'd consulted with Mavis Staples before his initial statement last year. Tweedy responded, "I thought about it; the initial impulse to write the statement was somewhat guided by the idea that this isn't their problem, and I didn't wanna burden Mavis with that idea, that Jeff needs some help figuring out how to feel better about racism or something, you know? And when I know the answer, the answer is that you don't get to feel better about racism."

#GRAMMYs winner @JeffTweedy announced last June he's committing 5% of his songwriting royalties to racial justice organizations.

Only on @CBSThisMorning, the @Wilco frontman tells @AnthonyMasonCBS where the revenue will go & why he's calling on the music industry to follow suit. pic.twitter.com/XUpkzLdNi0

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 15, 2021