Singer Kelly Rowland joins U.S. coronavirus special to aid black community

"Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort" will air Thursday.

As minorities in the U.S. continue to be most affected by Covid-19, the U.S. cable network BET is planning a television benefit to bring light to the effects of coronavirus and raise money for emergency assistance.

"Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort" airs Thursday.

BET says it hopes to provide "critical financial, educational and community support directly to the African Americans hardest hit by this crisis" through partnerships with the United Way, NAACP and various leaders in the African American community.

The television event will be hosted by actors Anthony Anderson and Regina Hall, Terrence J and singer Kelly Rowland.

"We are speaking to each other," said Rowland.

"There's a different language that I feel like we have with each other, a different banter that we have with each other. And I feel like it will be received when it's from us. Because we are we're, we're feeling it in a different way that we can express that has nothing to do with any other community but our own. And I feel like now is the time for us to open up that communication space, for us to be clear with each other."

Experts said early data from U.S. states shows African Americans are more likely to die from Covid-19, highlighting long-standing disparities in health and inequalities in access to medical care. Rowland said the statistics have made her heart drop.

"We can't have something like this take out our community. You know what I mean? I feel like we've been through so much. Our ancestors have been through so much. So, we have to get through something like this," Rowland said.

"They've gotten through so much and we have to get through this. So, yeah, so, it makes me just, you know, want to remind us all to just be kind to each other."

Others participating the event include Halle Berry, Chance the Rapper, DJ Khaled, Charlie Wilson and Fantasia.

Before nationwide stay-at-home orders took effect, Rowland was preparing to release an album she's been working on for six years.

"I was literally getting ready for videos and, you know, recording videos and everything. And I was like, this doggone Covid," she said.

"This has affected every single person that I know in some sort of major way."

The Destiny's Child member decided to drop the first single Coffee early with hopes of bringing a bit of escapism to people.

"Just the first, like beginning bells always take me to like a little place in, like where I like to go in Jamaica," she said of chimes heard in the song's opening.

"So, I was like, if it makes me feel like that, I wonder what would it do for other people? And so just the pride that's in this video, the, the women that are in this video are just so grounded in their beauty and sexuality and they're so unapologetic about it. I was like, yeah, we need some of that right now."