Alright, so I know thereâs already a lot of posts on this site that explain whatâs been going on and that link petitions and fundraisers, but Iâm gonna link all that stuff here after I provide some more information.
First of all, itâs really important to get educated on whatâs happened with the George Floyd/Minneapolis situation. That said, you should also get educated on on Black Lives Matter, racism, Black issues, racial injustice, Black history (the truth, not White lies), capitalism, police brutality, discrimination, etc. The best way to do this is to listen to Black people when they discuss the issues that affect us and our communities; listen to us and BELIEVE US!!! You can do this by reading posts from us on this website as well as other social media sites, and you can learn from any Black people you know who have spoken out about the struggles we face. Aside from that, you can also learn from the Black Lives Matter website. Please be wary about getting information from news outlets, though, as many of them are biased.
Second, thereâs always a fundraiser that you can donate to in order to help Black people and families who have been affected by racism and police brutality. And if youâre not financially able to donate, thereâs always a petition you can sign to help us out. There are also numbers that you can text to further support us. Aside from those three things, you can email and call both state and federal Congresspeople who represent/work for the areas that police brutality and protests are happening in.
Third, get involved!!! Donating, signing petitions, and calling representatives is great, but you can always do more! Join the protests. Use your White privilege, and step in when you see one of us getting harmed and treated unjustly. Protect Black people at the protests and amplify their voices. Protect Black people when you see them experiencing racial discrimination. Protect Black people when you see them getting harassed, arrested, or harmed by cops and by White people in general. It is your job to protect us, especially when we canât do it ourselves. And if you canât get involved in activism like this, you can always engage in online activism. Share our social media posts to help spread information on the injustices we endure. Share our petitions and fundraisers on every social media outlet you can. Amplify our voices online, too! If youâre in a space that is mostly White, like a Facebook group for example, amplify the voices of the Black members in the group instead of speaking over them. Point out the fact that THEY are the authority on Black issues and that THEY should be the ones speaking on it when theyâre present. And even if we arenât present, you can and should still fight for us. Educate your White counterparts any way you can. If youâre unsure how to go about that, one thing you can do is link them to our posts and to websites that discuss the discrimination we face. Hell, you can straight up quote us and our posts to them, too! I donât care how you get the information to them so long as you do it!
We also need yâall to not only consistently check your privilege, but also challenge it. Stop insulting our intelligence by trying to convince us that youâre not racist, that youâre engaging in as much activism as possible, that youâre ânot like other White people,â that youâre a âgoodâ White person because you have Black friends/family/partners and âvote blue,â etc. Telling us these things doesnât show us that youâre an actual advocate for anti-racism; you need to be able to back up those claims! And do not get upset with us and claim weâre âattacking youâ any time that we challenge your intentions. We have every single right to be wary of you and of all other White people we encounter. You also need to challenge your privilege by calling out your White coworkers, friends, family members, partners, neighbors, etc., even if it costs you something. Hold them accountable!! Donât protect them, and donât make excuses for them; racism is inexcusable. The approval of your White counterparts should not matter more than our lives. We put our lives on the line every single day, so the least yâall can do is put your relationships with your racist White friends on the line. All you have to do is saying something or do something when you see Black people being targeted, and it doesnât matter if you do so through social media or in encounters with those in power. All that matters is that you do something!!Â
Last, we need yâall to recognize any prejudices you have and unlearn them, and never stop unlearning them; always keep growing and learning. We also need yâall to acknowledge that, while race is a social construct and weâre all human whether racists want to accept that or not, COLOR STILL MATTERS!! RACE STILL MATTERS!!! Skin color always has and always will matter. And if you, as a White person, are upset by that, get mad at your fellow Whites because it was your people who decided to differentiate between races in order to oppress us. Besides that, we also need yâall to understand that there are no âgood cops.â Please dear god, stop with the whole âItâs just a few bad applesâ/âNot all copsâ bullshit! All cops are bastards, and yes, that includes your favorite fictional cops as well as any cops you know personally. âGood copsâ donât exist because âgood copsâ sit idly by while âbad copsâ continue to harm us and our communities; they are all complicit in racism and violence. Yâall need to understand that the police are a historically White supremacist domestic military force and that their sole purpose is to enforce violence so oppressors and oppressive systems remain in power. They are not here to âprotect and serve" us; theyâre here to protect and serve the rich and their property, people in power, and Whites. They are not legally obligated to protect people, especially not Black people. Recognize that ALL cops are a part of this system and support it by participating it, so none of them are âgood cops.â Another thing yâall need to understand is that you cannot experience racism and that we cannot be racist towards you or oppress you. We can be prejudiced towards you, sure, but racism requires prejudice AND power; we have no power over you. Systemic racism does not and never has affected Whites, and it is so important that you understand that and understand how systemic racism affects us. And finally, please stop sharing the videos of us being murdered. We donât need to get traumatized over and over again, and we donât need the murders of our people plastered everywhere like itâs entertainment. It is exploitative, and it harms us and the families of the victims.
Donât let this continue. Donât let people demonize us. Donât let our murderers walk free while we continue to die in these streets. Donât let people dismiss this as âThis is just the way it is/has always been.â The way that it is is unacceptable and needs to change. Help us by working towards that change.
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Run-down of the Minneapolis protests
Undercover cop incident at the protests
Censorship of journalists covering the protests
Black Lives Matter website
Google doc on Black Lives Matter movement, Black struggles, petitions, fundraisers, etc.
The Minneapolis Police Officers to be charged for murder after killing innocent Black man
#JusticeforFloyd: Demand the officers who killed George Floyd are charged with murder
Mandatory Life Sentence for Police Brutality
***If you live outside of the United States and canât sign without an American postal code, you can use these:
90015 - Los Angeles, California
10001 - New York City, New York
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund
The Black Visions CollectiveÂ
Comprehensive Minnesota bail fund/support list for May and June
Text âFLOYDâ to 55156
Text âJUSTICEâ to 668366
You can also copy+paste this script and email it to the email addresses listed below:
âIâm emailing about the murder of George Floyd by MPD officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao. These men were not upholding the law, they were committing murder and terrorizing the community. Being fired is not an appropriate response to committing murder. All officers involved must be charged for murder.â
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