Atlanta media mogul Tyler Perry is doing what he can to unite his fractured city.
The creator of the “Madea” film franchise purchased 1,000 Kroger grocery store gift cards, and turned them over to Atlanta police for delivery to the community, his office said Thursday.
“It is about the community I love, where I live and work,” Perry said in a statement to The Post. “This is about good people who need a hand, not a hand.”
“These are the good policemen who do their jobs well every day, some of whom are my personal friends,” the statement said. “It’s about trying to unite unity in a city that adopted me and held me high enough to reach my own branch in the tree of success.”
Photos provided by Perry and posted on Twitter by Atlanta police show officers deployed to Atlanta’s Zone 1 and Zone 3 police districts distributing the $ 50 gift cards and donating groceries at a local community center.
“500 boxes of food were distributed to needy families this morning during the grocery gift event at the Dunbar Red Center,” the department said in another tweet. “@Tylerperry donated 1,000 Kroger gift cards to give to the community. Thank you to all those detained by and to our partner agencies. “
The city of Georgia erupted in protests against the police following the death of George Floyd on May 25 by the Minneapolis police, and became increasingly violent after the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks.
Brooks, 27, was shot twice in the back by Atlanta police outside a local Wendy’s fast food restaurant.
Perry said the gift card gift was a way to try to heal the community and that it is only the media magnate’s latest act of philanthropy.
Within days of Brooks’ shooting death, Perry announced that he would not only pay for his funeral, but would provide college tuition to the four children of the murdered when they came of age.
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