What Can We Do
Recognize that police brutality and deadly racism against Black Americans did not start with George Floyd. It did not start with Breonna Taylor. Or Ahmaud Arbery. Not even with Trayvon Martin, more than 7 years ago, when the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was first catalyzed. Racism and oppression were interwoven into the backbone of this country since its inception and continues to shape our policies, our culture, and our economy. Acknowledging a hashtag is no longer enough.
This is a non-exhaustive list that can serve as a starting point for getting involved. There are a plethora of resources available, easily searchable online. Educate yourself and do the work to be an ally. Have conversations and check in with others. Contact your representatives and demand reform.
DEMAND ACTION:
These links immediately take you to a pre-written email with elected officials already embedded and all you have to do is type your name and where you are from:
For George Floyd: tinyurl.com/emailforfloyd/
For Breonna Taylor: tinyurl.com/ycha6nuu
Take time to know their stories, and the stories of the other countless victims of police brutality, before sending.
How to find your elected officials: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/
Use this template to contact your representative and push them to consider changing police training to decrease police brutality
Color of Change active campaigns
SIGN:
We call for an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and our lives to be taken. We call for a national defunding of police. We demand investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive. If you’re with us, add your name to the petition right now and help us spread the word.
Demand Racial Data on Coronavirus
In order to protect ourselves and those we love, we need the government to collect and release demographic data on the coronavirus. Also, the CDC must aggregate and release data to provide the Black community with information and resources targeted to our needs.
We need legislation now that prohibits police officers from shooting unarmed citizens. If there isn’t a weapon found after someone has been shot (therefore, unarmed) by a police officer, then I propose that the officer should receive a mandatory 15-year prison sentence.
Demand the officers who killed George Floyd are charged with murder
Police officers who killed Breonna Taylor must be FIRED.
National Action Against Police Brutality
DONATE:
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
LEARN:
African American History: From Emancipation to the Present (Yale open course)
End police violence: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
WATCH:
13TH (Netflix)
George Floyd and the Dominos of Racial Injustice, Trevor Noah (Daily Show)
Jane Elliott and the Blue Eye/Brown Eye social experiment
A Class Divided (Youtube)
How to Financially Help BLM without Spending Money (Youtube)
Guidelines:
1. Do not watch on repetition (again symbol)
2. Do not watch as a playlist
3. Do not fast forward or skip
4. Do not skip adds
5. Do not pause
6. Watch in at least 480p and half the volume
7. After a round, watch 3-5 other vids, search for this vid (not through playback history) and watch again
8. Do not clear your playback or search history
9. Like AND comment on this vid
10. Share this vid with friends/family and social media
Looking Back at the Black Power Movement (PBS)
READ:
Articles - - -
A Decade of Watching Black People Die (NPR)
The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic)
How Do I Make Sure I’m Not Raising the Next Amy Cooper? (CNN)
Books- - -
Consider purchasing your books from black owned bookstores rather than places like Amazon.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
The Torture Letters: Reckoning with Police Violence by Laurence Ralph (free e-book for five days only!)
Reading Material: “In Defense of Looting” by Vicky Osterweil
Reading Material: “White Witness and the Contemporary Lynching” by Zoé Samudzi
Reading Material: “Black is Crime: Notes on Blaqillegalism” by Dubian Ade
For your kids: 31 Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism, and resistance
For kids, parents, caregivers: https://www.prettygooddesign.org/blog/Blog%20Post%20Title%20One-5new4?fbclid=IwAR1Xg3lpkvY3t4JVCr8BF9TOa2m-2gdQxkCD_IPSmmopTquWSxbZQa6cX0Q
LISTEN:
Code Switch episodes to listen to with your kids
1619 (NYT)
Still Processing
White Lies
The Daily (some episode suggestions below)
A Decision in the Eric Garner Case
Five years after Mr. Garner’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry, the Justice Department said
it would not pursue charges against a New York City police officer.
A Life-or-Death Crisis for Black Mothers Black mothers and infants in the US are far more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than their white
counterparts. The disparity is tied intrinsically to the lived experience of being a black woman in America.
Why Is the Pandemic Killing So Many Black Americans?
Racial disparities in the death rate contradict the claim that the novel coronavirus is the “great equalizer.”
FOLLOW:
Twitter/Instagram: @deray
Twitter/Instagram: @Nettaaaaaaaa
For parents: @theconsciouskid
SUPPORT:
Consider supporting your local black-owned businesses (especially if you live in a gentrifying neighborhood)
Directory of Black Owned, Independent Book Stores in the U.S.
Directory of Black Owned Businesses
130+ Black Owned Brands and Designers to Support
FURTHER RESOURCES:
Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe, and Effective Community Policing
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
REGISTER TO VOTE:
https://www.headcount.org/vote-from-home/
https://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/download/voting/AbsenteeBallot-English.pdf
https://www.headcount.org/registertovote/
https://www.naacp.org/campaigns/voterhelp/
GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS!
Avoid posting and resharing photos that could help police, organized and unorganized white supremacist groups, and employers identify the people protesting.
Visit (https://www.kapwing.com/resources/how-to-add-blur-to-video/.) if you’re not sure how to blur people’s faces, tattoos, and other identifying attributes.
Do not use your social media page to discourage looting or “violent protest”. It’s counterrevolutionary to use your platform this way.
A quick response: "Violence aimed at the recovery of human dignity and at equality cannot be judged by the same yardstick as violence aimed at maintenance of discrimination and oppression.” - Walter Rodney