George Floyd Family

Guide for White People: How to Fight for Racial Justice

Feeling stressed, horrified, and helpless? Are you aching to help but don’t know where to start? This is a Black Lives Matter advocacy guide is compiled by Jessica Petrow-Cohen of the Leadership Now Project. She has compiled this list of resources for anyone who is as horrified by racism as so many of us are.

This is the most important election of our lifetime. #VoteBlue We are fighting for the soul of our divided nation. #VoteHarrisBiden

3 KEY STEPS for BLM Allyship

Learn how to use your voice and stand with Black Americans. We must put an end to this grisly systemic racism in America. It’s time for CHANGE! If not you, who? If not now, when? Petrow-Cohen’s guide gives suggestions on how to engage in the fight for #BLM and Anti-Racism. You too can be a well-informed and active ally.

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Anti-racism Resources

This document is intended to serve as an educational resource for white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. It includes lists of articles, videos, podcasts, books, films and TV series, and organizations to follow on social media. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, this is a great way to get started.

Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

Here are actions that white allies can take to promote racial justice and anti- racism, as well as fight against police brutality. These actions include educating yourself and others on the experience of Black Americans, understanding the systemic racism present in the institutions you interact with (e.g., schools, offices, local communities), and utilizing white privilege to engage with local and federal governments to demand change.

Rachel Rickett’s Anti-Racism Resources:

This resource includes links to articles and books on several critical topics regarding race, namely: Addressing Whiteness, Racism, Spirituality, and Wellness, Healing for Women of Color, Multi-Racial Identities, Health and Pandemics, as well as workshops and additional educational resources on race in America.

Understanding and Dismantling Racism: A Booklist for White Readers

This booklist compiled by Charis Books, an independent feminist bookstore, aims at addressing a broad variety of white readers’ needs and interests. It includes books that address race in the contemporary moment, and first person accounts of how individual people came to understand themselves as white and to desire an end to white supremacy. You can purchase each of these books directly at the link and support an independent bookstore in the process!

A Reading List for Children

A friend of mine is a teacher in the Nashville public school system and pulled together this list of culturally responsive and relevant books for children. Many of the books address racism and race explicitly. Others feature black protagonists and focus on changing the skewed representation in the media.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Justice for George Floyd

  • Demand reinstitution by the Department of Justice of consent decrees on police departments and municipal governments across this country that have demonstrated patterns of racism towards and mistreatment of people of color.
  • Demand sweeping police reform–federal legislation mandating a zero-tolerance approach in prosecuting police officers who kill unarmed, non-violent, and non-resisting individuals in an arrest.
  • Defund the Police means we need to put an end to systemic racism and the culture of corruption in our police forces. It calls for a national defunding of the police and an investment in communities and resources to ensure that Black people can survive and thrive in America.
  • Sign more petitions in support of anti-racism and ending police brutality that Black Lives Matter has compiled and updates regularly.
  • Send a message to your congressional representative supporting NAACP policy demands. The NAACP has created an extremely simple way to write to congressional representatives in your district expressing support for the NAACP anti-racism policy demands. The NAACP demands criminal justice reform, economic policies, health policies, and voting policies and provides a template message to send to your representatives demonstrating your support.
  • With the template it takes under a minute to directly and effectively engage in your state and local politics to promote anti-racism.
  • Write and call state leaders to demand justice for black lives lost to police brutality. See below for the relevant contact info and links to template messages. George Floyd Contact Info:
  • Hennepin County Attorney, Michael O. Freeman
  • Minneapolis Police Department

Justice for Breonna Taylor

Louisville Metro PD: louisville-police.org/142/Contact (502) 574-711
Louisville Mayor Office: (502) 574-2003
Breonna Taylor organized efforts standwithbre.com / justiceforbreonna.org
Louisville Mayor’s Staff Tony McDade Contact Info:

Join a protest

There are protests happening across the country in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Anti-Racism, and Criminal Justice Reform.

Have a conversation

One of the most powerful ways that we can be allies right now is by listening. Reach out to your black friends, neighbors, and colleagues during this traumatic time. Don’t make the conversation about you. Rather, work to create a space for them to share their experience with race and racism. We white Americans often shy away from these difficult conversations and in doing so silence black voices and stories. Let’s work to change that both on the national stage and in our personal relationships. Keeping an open dialogue is critical to maintaining momentum in the fight against racism.

Donate

Several organizations are fighting against racism and police brutality at one time. You can select an amount to donate and allocate the funds across the organizations listed below. This is great way to support multiple facets of the anti-racism movement at once, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed by the number of options. See a brief description donate directly to each organization included below:

Black Lives Matter Global Network

“#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.”

Reclaim the Block

“Reclaim the Block began in 2018 and organizes Minneapolis community and city council members to move money from the police department into other areas of the city’s budget that truly promote community health and safety. We believe health, safety and resiliency can exist without police of any kind. We organize around policies that strengthen community-led safety initiatives and reduce reliance on police departments.”

National Bail Fund

“National Bail Fund Network is made up of over sixty community bail and bond funds across the country and is working to coordinate bail efforts for protestors.” To donate to local bail funds and support protestors in your state / community or those states / communities in particular need directly, see the comprehensive list of local bail funds here.

Black Visions Collective

“Since 2017, Black Visions Collective, has been putting into practice the lessons learned from organizations before us in order to shape a political home for Black people across Minnesota. We aim to center our work in healing and transformative justice principles, intentionally develop our organizations core “DNA” to ensure sustainability, and develop Minnesota’s emerging Black leadership to lead powerful campaigns. By building movements from the ground up with an integrated model, we are creating the conditions for long term success and transformation.”

“The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand

democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and protections won over the past 75 years of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments.”

The National Police Accountability Project

“National Police Accountability Project (NPAP) is a 501(c)(3) organization and a project of the National Lawyers Guild, which was founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated national bar association. In 1999, NPAP was created as a non-profit to protect the human and civil rights of individuals in their encounters with law enforcement and detention facility personnel. The central mission of NPAP is to promote the accountability of law enforcement officers and their employers for violations of the Constitution and the laws of the United States.”

Color of Change Education Fund

“Color of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization helping people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. Color of Change leads campaigns that build real power for Black communities. We challenge injustice, hold corporate and political leaders accountable, commission game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advance solutions for racial justice that can transform our world.”

Unicorn Riot

“Over the past five years, Unicorn Riot has built a worker-managed non-profit media organization. We have worked tirelessly to build a platform that focuses on primary source reporting and on-the-ground coverage. Our reporters go where the story is unfolding to bring you the voices of real people alongside crucial context and facts.”

Campaign Zero

“Funds donated to Campaign Zero support the analysis of policing practices across the country, research to identify effective solutions to end police violence, technical assistance to organizers leading police accountability campaigns and the development of model legislation and advocacy to end police violence nationwide.”

Advancement Project

“Advancement Project is a next generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change.”

The Marshall Project

“The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We achieve this through award-winning journalism, partnerships with other news outlets, and public forums. In all of our work, we strive to educate and enlarge the audience of people who care about the state of criminal justice.”

We must end police violence in America.