Black Lives Matter: A Guide by Start: Empowerment

Words from @Vrye on ig. Policing is violent, anti-black, settler institution that originated as slave patrols.Their primary mandate is to protect property and to military enforce white supremacist capitalism. They are doing their jobs as they are trained and paid to do. You can't fix what ins't broken - thats why we fight for police and prison abolition.

Below are some resources on how to take action.

1. An updated database of all protests happening across the U.S. by Youth Climate Strike.

https://docs.google.com/document/u/2/d/e/2PACX-1vSc21IFAQipNs9ReAzR_z_MuwqEsJk-LCDZ9l1jfBDcgny0pqQxL86IgNfJFjJOV6DkTMg39hl3ZyCY/pub

2. ACTION STEPS

• “Justice for George Floyd: Action Steps”, a list of petition links, places to donate, education materials, and contact info for elected officials & police https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRXZpNSnGFcNbeJoKlF8FTJ7iCK4zlCfGks1dOKDI_HtB8pIGj_517YJR9YhVEvcjYRZQxJyu6rANWW/pu

• Here’s a document including donation links, scripts for contacting government leaders, how to prepare for a protest, where to donate physical supplies, petitions, and protest updates https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1-0KC83vYfVQ-2freQveH43PWxuab2uWDEGolzrNoIks/mobilebasic

• Hold conversations with your friends, family, neighbors. 1) Ask your family what they think of recent events. Start the conversation and then follow through! If you have racist family members, confront them! If you have neutral/”not-racist” family members, make sure they understand why it’s important to be anti-racist. 2) Advise your family to donate money to Black organizations

• Jail support: 1) If you know people are being arrested and where they've been taken, try to find out when they’re being released and be there w/ food, water, and painkillers for them when they get out. 2) Some groups are setting up shifts outside of jails to help fellow protesters when they’re released. Consider joining one of these groups or starting one of your own. 3) You can call an Uber home for families and friends who have been waiting for their loved ones to come out.

• If you have a car, you can drive around protests, identify medic tables, and drop off baking soda, water, goggles, painkillers, and t-shirts. Protestors need these items, since the police are constantly trying to provoke and attack them!

• Get together with a friend or family member and listen to police radio to warn protestors of their plan and record illegal and racist dialogue among police.

• Help organize mutual aid, food banks, and community resources for Black people and/or support existing networks led by Black people.

• Turn off your ad blockers and stream this youtube video to raise money for BLM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCgLa25fDHM

• Email lawyers in your city to ask if they will represent arrested protestors pro-bono, then gather this information to spread it through community networks and social media. Here is a template for contacting lawyers: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1zvLnH3pn4I7JxUa88-cDNodDlsprE6htCp-Txq249OI/mobilebasic

• Support Black businesses all-year-round! Here’s a twitter thread (with links) to help you: https://twitter.com/jadealycebod/status/1266573372370059266

• Here’s a list of bail funds to donate to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1ZIvDZpHqvNZkf8dGFXVjfk-Wq0Y9FTG410NJbH_8K8M/htmlview

• Here’s another list of bail funds to donate to + lawyers you can contact if arrested https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X4-YS3vFn5CLL9QtJSU0xqmTh_h8XilXgOqGAjZISBI/preview?fbclid=IwAR2trHe9Uh9WA6R1l_KagmyNVnpG0m157YKe9gwWFesRwOoHUlr6GKhlFxQ&pru=AAABcopMPQU*K_puEnU-cBUGKdR1iGi4tA

• Email your teachers, principal, superintendent, school board to ask about including anti-racism training and education into your public schools.

3. Readings/education on racism in the U.S, policing, and the criminal justice system.

• Reading: Are Prisons Obsolete by Angela Davis https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/angela-y-davis-are-prisons-obsolete.pdf

• Reading + Watch List: Pandemic Revolutionary Reading / Film list by @joelibrahim_ (ig) https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1vMVDYyIfAOkdNeQPHwH2svgAdoh9PBfNILEP82WEU9Q/mobilebasic

• Reading List: Black Perspectives - College Level Prison Abolition Syllabus https://www.aaihs.org/prison-abolition-syllabus-2-0/

• Video: Tedx Talk: Let's get to the root of racial injustice by Megan Ming Francis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCn72iXO9s

• Reading list: A reader guide to police abolition https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-reader-guide-to-understanding-police-abolition/Content?oid=80272747

• Reading List/Podcast/Video: Anti-Racism Resources https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic

• Black Revolutionary Text https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/18y0_2wm85L113fVWYdgljq9uuIlmlbl3

• Live Panel: Black and Asian solidarity in NYC: What we have learned https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1214147432261027

• Action List: 20+ Allyship actions for Asians to show up for the Black community right now by Michelle Kim https://medium.com/awaken-blog/20-allyship-actions-for-asians-to-show-up-for-the-black-community-right-now-464e5689cf3e

• Reading List: Black Woman Radicals and AAFC Solidarity Reading List https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/black-and-asian-feminist-solidarities-a-reading-list

• Article: Amy Cooper Knew Exactly what she was doing by Zeba Blay https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amy-cooper-knew-exactly-what-she-was-doing_n_5ecd1d89c5b6c1f281e0fbc5

• Book Club: Algorithms of Oppression - a book club and study group by Mandy Harris Williams, free black women's library and women's center for creative work https://womenscenterforcreativework.com/events/algorithms-of-oppression/

• Reading List: 20 Anti-Racist books by black authors https://www.elle.com/culture/books/g32687973/black-history-books-reading-list/ & a site with over 6 million free books if you can't afford to buy the books: