In my previous post, I covered why we must say Black Lives Matter, and why it’s not “all lives matter.”
Here, I’ll talk about what we can all do to prove that we believe that Black lives matter, because it’s not enough to just say it once or twice, or to post a black square on your Instagram grid (more on that debacle below), and then go about your day. Leaving your actions at that, you haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of fighting for justice.
We’re past the point of just words, or just visibility, or just awareness. White people can selectively quote MLK all they want, but his work went beyond words. There’s a reason he marched. There’s a reason he was arrested several times. There was a reason he was assassinated. His words and his actions pushed for change and they made those within the status quo uncomfortable. So if you’re going to quote Martin Luther King Jr., then you must also do the damn thing.
What to do to help right now (and forever):
Protest
Donate to bail funds
Sign petitions and send some emails
Support other Black services and groups
Buy Black — and divest from racist companies and organizations
LISTEN TO BLACK PEOPLE
Protest
If you are able, get out into those streets and protest. We are still in the middle of a pandemic though, so this means wearing masks and gloves, bringing hand sanitizer, washing your hands and bringing extra supplies to the protest if you can. Note that some Black activists have also asked that if you show up to protests, quarantine yourself for 14 days before going back out. The pandemic is disproportionately hitting communities of color who are also more likely to be out protesting as well.
Protesting is the loudest way you can show up as an ally. You amplify the numbers and the collective voice. If you think your presence there wouldn’t make a difference, what would happen if every other ally thought that way, too? There’d barely be anyone at the protest and it would not make the statement it is now, would it?
But Lauren, you might say, these protests are violent and result in looting! A few things:
Yes, these protests often turn violent against the protestors. However, there is overwhelming documentation that it is the police, not the protestors, who incite the violence. An undercover cop was caught breaking windows at one of the first protests in Minneapolis. There are several reports on Twitter from folks at different protests across the country of the police barging into peaceful lines, or surrounding protestors while also ordering them to leave. Police take a knee with protestors for a moment, then “beat the living shit out of us” in the next. Police will shove an unarmed woman so hard she loses a shoe and has a seizure. (BLM Part 3 will be on the police, don’t you worry.)
Before the police decide to unnecessarily escalate, protests look a lot like this and this and this.
Further, if you see someone in the protest crowd trying to start something violent, know that they are not part of the movement. They are often there to take advantage. Perhaps they are just too angry to keep it all in. If you see that, you’ll notice those truly with the movement will quickly try to shut it down. If you see that, you should try to help to shut it down, too.
Yes, there has also been looting in the past few days, too. However, these incidents are often NOT connected to the protests and are incited by white people taking advantage of the situation. See one video here, where Black protestors beg white people to stop breaking a business’ windows. Another, where a group of Black folks stop a white man from breaking more windows. These are the examples we must share widely, especially with our friends and relatives who are not shown this side on ~mainstream media~.
More on looting: I understand that it’s scary to be around mass violence and chaos. But if you’re more worried about the looting, ask yourself why you’re more worried about physical property than human lives? Ask yourself why you don’t have a problem with how museums gained their foreign and/or ancient displays? Isn’t the land you stand on looted from mass-murdered Native Americans?
Donate to bail funds
Here is a wonderful Google doc with a list of several bail funds that you can donate to. Note that the Minnesota Freedom Fund received such immense immediate support, they have asked folks to donate to other funds now. I encourage you to donate outside of your direct city, as well.
Why should you donate to bail funds? Because folks are being beaten and arrested for protesting peacefully. For calling for change. For exercising that first amendment right that Republicans love so much. For demanding that our country stop killing Black folks without consequence.
And would you look at that? Black people’s bails are being set higher than their white counterparts. If you can’t get out there and march, then open up that wallet.
Sign petitions and send some emails
There have been several petitions making their rounds. Now that the officers who killed George Floyd have all been charged, PLEASE, please sign the petition for Breonna Taylor, whose murderers have still not been arrested or charged. It is important we remember her and all the Black women who have also been killed.
You can also send emails to DAs and mayors and so-called leaders, like the one linked in “Action Item #3” here demanding justice for Breonna. You don’t have to be from Louisville to demand what is right.
No matter where you live, you can also send emails to mayors and city council people calling them to rethink the massive budget that funds police departments. You can find a phone/email script here (it’s specific to NYC, but y’all can adapt).
Support other Black services and groups
Black lives matter all the time, not just right now. This blessed Twitter thread lays out some great Black-led organizations that you can also donate to. The fight doesn’t stop until we reach justice and equality, so until then, we must help and uplift ALL Black folks in every way we can.
Buy Black — and divest from racist companies organizations
For non-black people, doing the anti-racist work and supporting Black people in every way often means getting uncomfortable. It means changing your habits and preconceived notions. It means recognizing that you largely support the oppressive system in many ways, like buying from companies that are run or funded by white supremacists (Home Depot) or greedy men who participate in wage left (Amazon) (also, looting!). (I had an Instagram post that listed out a ton of companies with racist investors/owners, but I cannot for the LIFE of me find it right now. Sorry!)
Instead, support Black businesses right now. Here’s a few self-care/makeup brands and a few Black-owned bookstores you can support right now! You can also search for spreadsheets/databases for businesses and restaurants in your own area, too.
LISTEN TO BLACK PEOPLE
#BlackoutTuesday is what happens when you don’t listen to Black people. It’s what happens when you hop on a trend without bothering to do the work. It’s what happens when you make your allyship performative and about yourself. BlackoutTuesday ended up wiping out crucial BLM resources and messages across social media. It silenced Black voices and took up their space with a useless black square, which is the exact opposite of what we’re supposed to be doing here.
How do you avoid making that same kind of mistake? Follow Black people and listen to them. Here, have a whole list of black activists to follow (Disclaimer: that link leads to an IG post from refinery29, who is currently coming under lots of backlash from current and former Black writers and other writers of color for management’s mistreatment of them and racism in the workplace).
It is not our call to make on what Black people need, or how protests should be run, or what equality or justice or solidarity looks like. Non-black people need to step up, but we need to follow Black folks’ lead in this.