Friends, we are living in some unreal times. As if the events of this past week were not hard enough to face as a community, we are doing it in the middle of a pandemic. Tensions and anxiety are high, and many of us have been confined to our homes for months, so the thought of taking our anger and frustration to the streets with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other people, is understandably concerning. However, do not let that deter you. What’s more, do NOT let it become an excuse. There are plenty of ways you can help in the efforts to end systemic racism in our community and our nation from your home. Here are just a few:
Sign and Call.
Sign a petition demanding justice, not only for George Floyd but for all victims like him. Here are some places you can sign petitions already in place, some numbers to call, and some addresses to send letters:
sign the petition at change.org
sign the petition at act.colorofchange.org
send a letter to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey
send a letter to Minnesota governor Tim Walz
call Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison at 651-296-3353
Donate.
You can donate to the family’s GoFundMe page directly, or to many other organizations fighting the cause. Those include, but are not limited, to the following:
American Civil Liberties Union
Share.
Continue to share information and updates on your social media platforms. When sharing, remember to amplify black voices, so be sure you’re following a wide variety of people of color. Show your support by following them and by engaging via comments and reactions, and encourage others to follow suit by sharing their words often on your own page as well. Here are a few voices that our team follows, but please keep in mind that there are countless others that are just as important. Do your research and keep learning to find more.
Austin Channing Brown: Facebook | Instagram
Be the Bridge: Facebook | Instagram
Ibram X. Kendi: Facebook | Instagram
Jo Saxton: Facebook | Instagram
Jodie Patterson: Facebook | Instagram
Latasha Morrison: Facebook | Instagram
Lisa Sharon Harper: Facebook | Instagram
Osheta Moore: Facebook | Instagram
Robin DiAngelo: Facebook | Instagram
Tracee Ellis Ross: Facebook | Instagram
Trevor Noah: Facebook | Instagram
Keep the conversation going.
While this may sound like the easiest step, it is in fact the hardest. And yet it is the most necessary of them all. If you participated in #blackouttuesday, your commitment was to putting your own thoughts and your “normal” posts aside to take some time to listen, to read, to research, and to help amplify the voices of our black community. If you did not do that, then make it a point to do it today. And tomorrow. And the next day. Keep the conversation going offline, in your real, daily life. Make a promise to yourself that you will talk, out loud, to at least one person per day about this issue. Make a promise to have the hard conversations, to admit where you need to learn more, and to stay committed to the cause. It doesn’t end here.
