A Semi-Comprehensive Guide on Catching Up with BLM.

June 17, 2020 The Whorticulturalist

These protests feel different, the anger feels more consuming, the righteous indignation more radical and long-lasting. There are a lot of people who are joining BLM who've never marched or protested before. Even my mother, who watches Fox News most nights, has come around and was marching in the protests in Seattle last weekend, and I've got a lot of friends who've been tentatively asking each other, how do I get involved, and is it too late?

I don't think it's too late. We need to have accountability for why we weren't there from the beginning, and carefully examine the ways in which our privilege has allowed us to opt out from Black Lives Matter, or from any other type of activism. Fundamentally, privilege gives us the choice to avoid the things that make us feel uncomfortable, when other people cannot. We need to examine the reasons behind our previous lack of participation. We need to also examine the ways in which we are participating now, to make sure that we are doing it in thoughtful ways that amplify black voices instead of obscuring them. We need to make sure that we are not virtue signaling or only engaging with the movement for the optics. And we need to make sure that our previous lack of participation doesn't keep us from joining in now.

I've been retweeting a lot, and saving a lot of things that I've seen in the media posted by black people, and in particular queer or female black voices because what we don't need right now is white people colonizing the movement. At the same time, please please please don't take precious time and energy away from the black people in your life by asking them to educate you. We have the means to educate ourselves, through finding resources such as these. I will be updating this as I can, and I've done my best to organize things into categories. I understand that everyone learns through different mediums so I've tried to include as many as possible.

Please let me know if there is a resource you would like added, voices you want amplified, and more.

How to Be a Good Ally:

I found this article by writer/artist Mediphis to be incredibly useful. It's an eloquent takedown of the belief that black people are responsible for soothing white guilt and doing away with the notion that signing a couple of petitions or watching The Help (decidedly not helpful to BLM) on netflix is enough to be a good ally. This is a efficient dismantling of the belief that we are doing well by joining now, because frankly our privilege has shielded us from joining before, and we have profited emotionally, socially, and politically from our purposeful ignorance.

Here are some other points summarized from Marie Beecham, an activist and environmentalist who wrote an amazing post on how to ally:

Don't talk to black people about your white guilt. They don't need your sob story.
Check yourself. You are a part of the system and resist the urge to try and be an authority in a movement that was never supposed to be about you.
Talk about racism with other people. Those friends who've been quiet the issue? Have those uncomfortable conversations. Force them to reckon with it.
Don't ask black people to educate you. Google exists. Use it.
Act with urgency. There is no such thing as asking for social justice to wait for a better time.
Call out and reject white privilege you experience or witness. Dismantling the system means also giving up your privilege.
Don't compare racism to your own struggles. As nice as it feels to think you're being empathetic, you cannot empathize with the experience of systematic racism.
Don't be a white savior. You don't get a gold medal for being anti-racist.
Honor the feelings of black people. If they are angry, they are allowed to be. If they are sad, they are allowed to be. Don't colonize or try to control the narrative of what they're experiencing.

Some extra steps focused on non-optical allyship brilliantly written by Mireille C. Harper:

Avoid sharing traumatic content. People can seek that out if they want to find it. By posting it willy nilly, you may traumatize black friends and dehumanize black violence... not helpful.
Stop supporting organizations that support hate. This obviously goes without saying, but please dear god stop supporting chick-fil-a, Starbucks, Dollskill, and any number of organizations that haven't been supporting the movement. Find a more comprehensive list here.
Start working on your long-term plan. How are you going to keep the momentum going?

People to Follow:

This is a long list of people (mainly black women because as I said before in a previous post I think they’re the backbone of the earth) I've long loved or recently discovered, some of which are huge accounts and some much smaller. They all offer unique and beautiful information and literature to keep the conversation going, and every single one is immeasurably wise.

Instagram:

Rynnstarr, an educator and Youtuber.

Chris Facey, Tony Mobley, and Lyte Visuals, photographers who’ve been doing amazing work documenting BLM protests.

Jahkara Smith, a Youtuber whose humorous takes on social issues are both biting and enlightening.

Norah, Yarah and Rosa, three sisters whose dancing is inspiring and healing.

GLITS which helps support members of the LGBTQIA community living in this modern world.

Victoria Alexander who is doing some incredible research in creating anti-racist education tools.

Tembe Denton-Hurst is a beauty and culture writer who is both incredibly humorous but also honest and challenging.

The Vocalized is a black/brown femme collective seeking to amplify voices of Black & Indigenous people, WOC, & non-binary-trans-queer folk.

Daylite is a poet and singer from the bay area whose activism is funnel through an incredible sense of creativity.

Black Visions Collective seeks to create safe spaces in which to amplify black voices.

Patrick Onyekwere is an artist who works with blue pens to make absolutely STUNNING portraits.

If you want to see gorgeous black women and their gardens, this is such a wonderfully healing instagram.

Shea Diamond is a singer songwriter whose music is what we need in this moment.

Babirye Leilah Burns is a sculptor and artist whose work is gorgeous and awe-inspiring.

The Black Iris Project helps support black dancers/ballerinas.

George Johnson is a YA writer whose work is nuanced and heartfelt.

Blair Imani is a queer black muslim author and modern historian.

Ethel’s Club is a social and wellness club focused on POC.

Gunna Goes Global is a rapper and activist from the bay area who does incredibly biting social commentaries.

Twitter:

Dr. Sami Schalk, a researcher on race, disability and gender. She’s sarcastic, hilarious, and incredibly thought-provoking.

Benjamin Dixon, podcaster and political analyst who offers seething perspectives on the political systems that are shaping our current crises.

Jackson Bbz, a Black trans man who offers incredible perspectives on intersections of race and sexuality.

Rachel E. Cargle is a writer, lecturer, and public academic. Her feed is both healing and provocative.

Ebony Janice is a hip hop womanist and founder of blackgirlmixtape.

Bree Newsome Bass is a artist and lecturer on race and society. I love her feed for being enlightening and beautifully written.

Wagatwe Wanjuki is an anti-rape activist and writer on abuse and trauma.

Books to Read:

From Tembe Denton-Hurst, an incredible writer for NY Magazine and The Strategist, this was one of the most comprehensive lists I’ve seen so far. For an added step, please order your books from bookstores such as Marcus Books in Oakland, which is the oldest black-owned bookstore in America, or at the very least through your local bookstore (if you follow the links they will take you to indiebound.com, which will help you find the independent bookseller nearest you that stocks it!)

Contemporary Fiction:

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Push by Sapphire
Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Training School for Negro Girls by Camille Acker
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
The Mothers by Brit Bennett

I also really love these suggestions from Victoria Alexander and Hannah Chia which includes books from Black men as well as several about being an ally as an Asian POC.

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The Burning House by Anders Walker
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan M. Metzl
A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki and Rebecca Stefoff
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Killing Rage by bell hooks
Becoming by Michelle Obama
In Search of Our Mothers Gardens by Alice Walker
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Aint I a Woman by bell hooks
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Native Son by Richard Wright
This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
Colored Cosmopolitanism by Nico Slate

Movies/Shows to Watch:

Please dear god do not watch Green Book or The Help and think that you’ve done a good job. Here’s a brief list of amazing films and shows to watch to help confront our implicit bias and structural internalized racism. Rachel Harvey suggested a lot of these on her blog, and others were provided by __

Podcasts to Listen To:

I love podcasts as I’m sure many of my fellow readers do. This list was compiled by a couple different posts I saw, and are hosted by Black people or POC.

Places to Donate:

In a capitalist society we know that our bodies, our time, our energy, and our emotional capacity has all been measured by measures of productivity, and therefore, money. Our greatest revolutions and uprisings as a species have been most effective when we have either taken away or stopped the means of producing capital, or when we have opted out of unfair systems of capital by means of strike or boycott. If we want to enact change, it is most effective when we hit them where it hurts, their wallets. Please, if you are able, support the moment by donating to any of the below organizations, but also do one better and look for the smaller local organizations in your area and donate to them. Systematic change starts with your immediate surroundings. How are we helping our Black neighbors or members of our community?

To support the families of victims

• Community Support for Robert Fuller

• Rayshard Brooks Memorial Fund

• Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells Funeral Costs

• George Floyd Memorial Fund

• I Run With Maud

• James Scurlock Memorial Fund

• Tony Mcdade Memorial Fund

• David McAtee Memorial Fund

• Justice for Breonna Taylor

• Gianna Floyd Fund

Bail Funds

• The Bail Project

• National Bail Out

• National Bail Fund Network COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund

• Atlanta Solidarity Fund

• Louisville Community Bail Fund

• Chicago Community Bond Fund

• Philadelphia Bail Fund

• Nashville Community Bail Fund

• Dallas Bail Fund for Protesters

• (F)empower Community Bond Fund

• People’s Program Bail Out Fund; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Columbus Freedom Fund; Columbus, Ohio

Youth-Oriented Community Organizations

• Integrate NYC

• GirlTrek

• Black Girls Code

• Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp

• The Conscious Kid

• Pretty Brown Girl

• Gyrl Wonder

• D.R.E.A.M.

• HOPE Crew: Hands-On Preservation Experience

Policy/Voting Reform Organizations

• American Civil Liberties Union

• Black Lives Matter Global Network

• Color of Change Education Fund

• Advancement Project

Community Justice Action Fund

Anti-Racism Fund

• Moms Demand Action; donations will be matched dollar for dollar by Everytown, Moms Demand Action’s parent organization

• Faith in Texas

• Take Action Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, North Carolina

• Austin Justice Coalition; Austin, Texas

• Dallas Alliance Against Racial and Political Repression; Dallas, Texas

• The Refugee Dream Center; Rhode Island

• Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance; Rhode Island

• Fair Fight; National, but mainly Georgia

• Black Voters Matter Fund

• Woke Vote

• Higher Heights

• The Collective Political Action Committee

Black LGBTQ Organizations

• Third Wave Fund

• The Heavenly Angel Fund Project

• Black Trans Advocacy Coalition COVID-19 Community Response Grant

• The Nina Pop and Tony McDade Mental Health Recovery Fund

• Homeless Black Trans Women Fund; Atlanta, Georgia

• Black Trans Travel Fund; New York City

• Emergency Release Fund; New York City

• F2L Relief Fund; New York State

• For The Gworls Party; donations are collected through Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App

Support Black and Queer Sex Workers

Participate:

Read, Listen, Engage and Donate. When there are calls to action by the leaders of the movement (national and in your community) follow through. Take care of yourself through inevitable burnout with these helpful steps below, and continually remind yourself that this is a daily practice, and not just a fad. Until the system has fundamentally changed/been replaced, there will be no such thing as change.

I will be posting more stuff soon on how to get involved at the local level for your city hall, districts, or more. That work, the boring meetings and town halls, is essential as well. We’ve posted previously on how to participate safely in Black Lives Matter protests and marches, especially keeping in mind rising counts of COVID infections, but the long-term work that needs to be done will be a crucial slog. Be aware of what are the current needs of your community, look on Facebook, on Next Door, on Twitter and on Instagram. Follow the leaders of local BLM movements on their social media so you are aware of needs as they arise. This work will require a lot of time spent thoughtfully planning and actively participating in our political system, so begin to familiarize yourself as well with your local officials, their stances on BLM, and what more we can be doing to help them move in the right direction.

Finally Things to Reflect On:

I loved these prompts by Jezz Chung, who has created a calling out of raising collective consciousness. If anything please spend some time reflecting on these questions:

In what ways does my proximity to whiteness afford me privileges that aren’t extended to Black and Brown people?
In what ways have I been conditioned to believe in the superiority of whiteness?
In what ways have I engaged in rhetoric that promotes othering or stereotyping of Black people?
What can I do to better educate myself on the historical context of race in the country and community that I exist in?

Edit August 2022: We’re adding this helpful article on annuity.org about financial literacy for the black community… Part of empowering a disempowered group is making sure they have financial independence and success.

This is a long read but honestly, it's the least you can do. Please follow the links to the social media accounts of everyone I posted about and subscribe to their content. This isn't a movement that only lasts a moment, it doesn't go away just because it's not trending on instagram.