BLACK LIVES MATTER.

 

Police Violence and racial injustice needs to end. And it is the duty of every single person to show up and take action, there are various ways of expressing that you care and that you won't tolerate human rights violations, no matter if they are happening on the other side of the world.

Protestors, organisations and black communities need and deserve our worldwide support, so here are some ways to take action, information and material to educate yourself and other non-black people surrounding you about white supremacy and racial injustice.

1. Donations 

To George Floyds Family:

• https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
• https://www.gofundme.com/f/george-floyd-bigfloyd

Funds: 

• https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019
• https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd
• https://www.blackvisionsmn.org
• https://blacksocialists.us
• https://unicornriot.ninja/donate/
• https://www.nationalcouncil.us
• https://www.theokraproject.com
• https://www.naacp.org
• https://www.byp100.org
• https://www.inquest.org.uk
• https://www.gofundme.com/f/black-protest-legal-support-uk
• https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/home
• https://www.joincampaignzero.org

2. Sign these petitions

• https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis

• https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/justiceforfloyd-demand-the-police-officers-who-killed-george-floyd-are-fired 

• https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd 

More petitions here: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#petitions

3. Take Action

A lot of people from the US are sharing a phone number to call or text, but for many of us this can get very expensive (most phone plans here don't cover international calls outside of the EU). A great alternative is to send an e-mail topolice@minneapolismn.gov and share this initiative online. Other easy steps you can take is to sign petitions or donate money if your financial situation allows you to.

If you have friends, family or people in Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis, tell them to write and call immediately: 

1. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman Call: (612) 348-5550 Email: citizeninfo@hennepin.us 

2. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Call: (612) 673-2100 Email: Jacob.Frey@minneapolismn.gov

If you are NOT from Minnesota TakeAction Minnesota recommends that you email to add pressure that the world is watching. Here’s a template email to copy, edit and send:

1.

Hello, my name is [your name]. 

I’m emailing because I demand accountability for the racist murder of George Floyd. I demand that you press charges against all of the officers involved in the incident, including Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao. George Floyd should be alive today, and all cops involved must be held accountable for his murder, in order to get justice for George’s family and prevent this brutality and violence from happening in the future. Thank you. 

 

2. 

Hello, my name is [your name]. 

I’m emailing because I demand accountability for the racist murder of George Floyd. I urge you to defund the Minneapolis Police Department during the special budget session and instead invest in community programs that will help reduce the amount of violence in Minneapolis. George Floyd should be alive today, and we must start providing more support towards community efforts in order to prevent this brutality and violence from happening in the future. Thank you.

Solidarisch,

Black Lives Matter Berlin

Go protesting: 

• Silent Demo on the 06.06.2020 https://www.instagram.com/silent_demo_06.06.2020/

4. Advice before going to a protest

If you're protesting in the UK, you'll find further advices here: https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/key-advice/

If you're protesting in Germany, we can recommend this article about demonstrating in general: 

https://ze.tt/wie-du-sinnvoll-und-gefahrlos-demonstrierst/

And if you want to know explicitly what you're allowed to do while demonstrating and what the police is too: 

• https://anwaltauskunft.de/magazin/gesellschaft/strafrecht-polizei/polizei-und-protest-die-rechte-von-demonstranten
  
  
• https://www.polizei-beratung.de/suche/?tx_mqsolr_mqsolr%5Bcontroller%5D=Search

5. Support black owned businesses

List: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wJUm5YK7NV9lkSMyNuXzfcx_r2EMFiilthyEvIpQYv4/mobilebasic

Website:

https://webuyblack.com

6. Don't buy from businesses that support prison labor

How Prison Labor is the new American slavery and most of us unknowingly support it. (...)

To give you an impression, we've selected some quotes from the article, you'll find the link below. 

With 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prison population, the United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world. No other society in history has imprisoned more of its own citizens. There are half a million more prisoners in the U.S. than in China, which has five times our population. Approximately 1 in 100 adults in America were incarcerated in 2014.  Out of an adult population of 245 millionthat year, there were 2.4 million people in prison, jail or some form of detention center. (...)

Whole Foods – You ever wonder how Whole Foods can afford to keep their prices so low (sarcasm)? Whole Foods’ coffee, chocolate and bananas might be “fair trade,” but the corporation has been offsetting the “high wages” paid to third-world producers with not-so-fair-wages here in America.

The corporation, famous for it’s animal welfare rating system, apparently was not as concerned about the welfare of the human “animals” working for them in Colorado prisons until April of this year.

You know that $12-a-pound tilapia you thought you were buying from “sustainable, American family farms?” It was raised by prisoners in Colorado, who were paid as little as 74 cents a day. And that fancy goat cheese? The goats were raised and milked by prisoners too. (...)

https://returntonow.net/2016/06/13/prison-labor-is-the-new-american-slavery/

7. 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship

1. Understand what optical allyship is

"Allyship that only serves at the surface level to platform the 'ally', it makes a statement but doesn't go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power that oppress" - Latham Thomas

2. Check in on your black friends, family, partners, loved ones and colleagues

This is an emotional and traumatic time for the community, and you checking in means more than you can imagine. Ask how you can provide support.

3. Be prepared to do the work

Understand that coming to terms with your own privilege will not be a pretty or fun experience. It is necessary to feel feelings of guilt, shame and anger throughout the process.

4. Read up on antiracist works

It is not enough to dislike racism, you need to work towards antiracism. The following will be essential for your learning: Me And White Supremacy (Layla Saad) and How To Be An Antiracist (Ibrahim X. Kendi).

5. Avoid sharing content which is traumatic

Whatever your intentions, it is vital to consider sharing videos of black people being abused and hurt can be both traumatic and triggering for many black people. Avoid sharing this content as it increases also to the dehumanisation of black people.

6. Donate to funds and support initiatives

Consider supporting platforms and initiatives which support black people, such as the Minnesota Freedom Fund, support black-owned funding plaforms like Kwanda and sign petitions. Put your MONEY and PEN where your mouth is.

7. Do not centre this narrative around yourself

Whilst it is nice that you can relate and empathise, now is not the time to insert your personal experiences into a narrative that isn't about you.
This is actually harmful und takes away from the severity of the situation. Leave your ego.

8. Keep supporting after the outrage

It should not take an act of brutality or the vitality of a situation for you to suddenly show your support. Keep supporting black media, black initiatives, charitable organisations and continuing your work AFTER the attention has died down.

9. Stop supporting organisations that promote hate

If you read pieces on media platforms that promote hate or fund supremacist and hateful organisations, you are contributing to the problem. Equally, stop supporting organisations that love 'black culture', but fail to speak up on issues affecting the black community.

10. Start your long-term strategy

How are you making a long-term impact or affecting change? Can you mentor a young person? Can you become a trustee for an organisation that supports the black community? Could you offer your time to volunteer? Make the effort to do something valuable over a long-term period.

8. Educate yourself

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some more Books: 

• The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
• “Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire” by Akala
• “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Alex Haley and Malcom X
• “Sister Outsider” by Audre Lorde
• “Killing Rage: Ending Racism” by bell hooks
• “The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
• “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X Kendi
• “Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change” by Layla Saad
• “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colourblindness” by Michelle Alexander
• “White Tears, Brown Scars” by Ruby Hamad
• PDF of free books written by black activists

 

9. BE AWARE THAT RACISM IS A WORLD WIDE PROBLEM 

"Institutionalized racism and white supremacy are actual problems in aall European countries. Black face is still „tradition“ that happens every year in the Netherlands (zwarte piet), being praised by almost every head of the government.

White terrorist Tobias Rathjen who murdered 11 people of color because of their skin (Hanau, February 2020) was described by the German police as „a German with a hunting license who is mentally unstable“ (a fucking terrorist!!!!). And there are many more examples that you can find in each country here, showing how deeply rooted the racism is.

Open your eyes to anti-blackness

(Western) European countries often have many different ethnic groups living there. Although racism and white supremacy affects all non-white communities (in different ways). Anti-Blackness refers to the ways in which specifically and uniquely Black people are targeted

Understand that difference as a person of color who is non-black.

Start paying attention to coded language. What do white people mean when they talk about „good neighborhoods“ or „good schools“? „Underdeveloped“? „Articulate“? Pay attention to both micro- and macro sociological levels. Who gets credit for trends and who ACTUALLY started them? What elements of black culture are celebrated and which are being ridiculed? Together we have to dismantle the systems of oppression that continue to threaten Black lives in both visible and hidden ways.

Accept and acknowledge that we all make mistakes and sometimes can say something racist, even if it was never your intentions. But it's not about being perfect and knowing everything, it's about the effort that you put into educating yourself and others around you so we can all grow & (un) learn. Nobody is born 'woke', especially not in a racist society. But with the endless (free) sources like the internet, you have no excuse to not educate yourself.

„You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in“

Most important: dont automatically go to all the black people you know for free education. Do not put the labor on black people to educate you. Listen, don't labor. Listen to recourses from black authors, activists, podcasters, etc. Don't invalidate a black person's experience, don't talk over them. Simply LISTEN."

Instagram blog about shared experienced racism: https://www.instagram.com/rassismuswelten/

This is a hearts issue to us and it should be one for every human being alive. Educate yourself on white supremacy, and raise your voice for the ones who are — even though it’s the fucking 21st century, treated with disrespect, are violated and murdered. It is up on us how the world will remember our time — so get your ass on the streets and let’s rewrite history.