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A List of resources for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement
Below you’ll find a list of petitions to sign, funds and charities to donate to, and resources for educating yourself and those around you.
It has now been over three weeks since the brutal killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, and a week since vast crowds gathered to pay tribute to him in Houston at his funeral. The events of three weeks ago have sparked a reckoning over police brutality and racial prejudice, not just in the US but around the world.
It’s almost impossible for many of us to even comprehend the pain and anger that many in the Black community are feeling right now, and there’s nothing we can say that hasn’t already been said far more poignantly by countless others. So instead of rehearsing those thoughts and sentiments, we want to use our small corner of the internet to share resources; to amplify Black voices; and to support the demonstrations currently going on in any other ways we can. Below you’ll find a list of links, divided up into charities, funds and initiatives to donate to; people and organisations to follow; books and articles to read; and petitions to sign.
For those of us in privileged positions, this is a time for two things. In the short term: action, including everything from signing petitions and joining demonstrations to donating to bail-out funds and following Black community organisations. And then in the longer term: education, learning how we can support, become better allies or just generally further the cause. We hope the list below provides a useful starting point for both of these, but it is just a starting point; we will be updating it, so please get in touch with any new suggestions or if you feel we’ve missed something.
For those of us doubly privileged enough to work in the creative industries, we need to recognise that our predominantly white sector (and our own company is no exception) benefits from Black culture every day. We all need to redouble our efforts to support Black voices and artists, starting now. And finally, for those of us based in the UK, it’s important we don’t pretend this is an American issue alone. Our record in this country on institutionalised racism and systemic injustice makes for grim reading.
As always, if you have any thoughts on how we can improve what we do, please send an email to our editor Matt at ma@itsnicethat.com, whether with new suggestions for the list below or with stories and initiatives we should be supporting.
Charities and funds
A list of organisations to fund, put together by Reclaim the Block
American Civil Liberties Union
Petitions to sign
Articles and resources to read
Anti-racism resources for white people (via Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein)
75 things white people can do for racial injustice (via Medium)
Ways to help (via Black Lives Matter)
“The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (from The Atlantic, 2014)
IG: George Floyd: How can I help from the UK? (via Das Penman)
IG: 10 steps to non-optical allyship (via Mireille Harper)
IG: Transform Allyship into Action: A Toolkit for Non-Black People (via Social Justice in Medicine Coalition at USC)
Twitter Thread: UK-based charities, organisations and platforms whose work aims to eradicate racial injustice (via Black Ballad)
IG: Brilliant Black-owned businesses to buy from in the UK (via Emily Ames)
Twitter Thread: Advice for companies from Sheree Atcheson, Monzo’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion (via Sheree Atcheson)
Books
Why I’m No longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
Natives by Akala
Dark Days by James Baldwin
Diversify by June Sarpong
How To Be Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde
White Girls by Hilton Als
Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla
Watch and listen
Angela Davis on intersectional anti-racism (via Roshni Goyate)
The Color of Fear, directed by Lee Mun Wah (1994)
1619 by The New York Times
Code Switch by NPR
People and organisations to follow
Lee Merrit (Civil Rights Lawyer)
Guides and tools
How to protest safely during a pandemic (via VICE)
Five points to consider before going to a Black Lives Matter protest in London or the UK (via @VARAIDZO)
Know your rights (via @initialola on Twitter)
Tool for quickly scrubbing metadata from images and selectively blurring faces and identifiable features (via @everestpipkin Twitter)
Free flyer printing (via The Photocopy Club also here)
Via It’s Nice That.
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