black lives matter, a thread:
how to properly be an ally, how to educate yourself, & ways you can help !

ok just a lil disclaimer, multiple people have asked me what else they can do & i figured a thread would be helpful. everything in this thread is stuff that i personally do & i think it’s an efficient way to go about it if you really are serious about helping / learning.

if you want a deeper understanding of blm, research is v important!! youtube has lots of informative videos on it that breaks down what blm really is, debate videos, & empowering speeches from protests that really resonate. ill list some of my favorites in the tweet below!

- a blm documentary
- a debate that puts things in perspective
- breakdown of all lives matter
background info of blm
- a little girl gives speech on blm

along with videos come books. a few i have read or found bits and pieces of powerful information from are
- Why Black Lives Matter (Too) by Mary Canty Merrill
- From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation by Keeanga Taylor
- They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

now moving on to how to help. like most, if you’re educated on the movement but don’t know how to help, staying aware is always important. turning a blind eye to the injustices that go on is a giant participant in why police/those in power think they can get away w/ these things.

what i do personally is research. i make it a point to google victims in the past whose names i can remember & check up to see how their cases are doing. 9 times out of 10 the police are not charged & there’s nothing else we can do but SPEAK. UP.

in the case where the police goes uncharged sometimes ill scroll through & try to find petitions on http://change.org  i can sign about appealing the case or some other way for justice to be served. these petitions can seriously have the power to change things. they matter.

part of staying aware is speaking up on things others aren’t!!! sometimes i’ll google “black lives matter” or “police shooting” or something along those lines to see if there’s any victims that are being pushed under the rug & aren’t getting the media attention they should be.

another factor that i think is huge in helping out is gofundme. on there sometimes you can find victims’ hospital bills that they may need help with & funeral costs. these are the last things the family should have to deal with. down below i’ll list some that i’m aware of.

here are some go fund me’s:
http://gf.me/u/jbg5jh  - justice for Greg Hill
http://gf.me/u/jbg6ak  - scholarship fund for Alton Sterling’s son

some petitions you can sign:
https://www.change.org/p/justice-4-mario-woods-coalition-demand-san-francisco-district-attorney-george-gascon-charge-sfpd-officers-with-murder - Mario Woods, no justice
https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-investigate-the-killing-of-tamir-rice - Tamir Rice, no justice

if you actually take the time to care & see how many fucked up things are happening that no one talks about it’s unbelievable. i found 6+ victims in the past 15 minutes alone of researching who are getting no media attention whatsoever. awareness is absolutely ESSENTIAL when it+

comes to blm because if no one calls these people out for their shit, how will anything ever change???

now lastly, how to be an ally. i think it’s safe to say a good majority of y’all aren’t racist. well that’s great, but... it goes deeper than that. ALWAYS keep in mind that an ally will never speak for/over black people. a lot of y’all want to be an ally so bad that it backfires.

IF YOU’RE NOT BLACK YOU CAN NEVER TELL A BLACK PERSON HOW TO FEEL!!!!!!

do not!!!! ever tell anyone black that they’re overreacting b/c of a certain situation. if we think it was racist, then it was. if we don’t want to forgive that person bc of their racism, then we don’t have to. we are not obligated to put up w/ anything we find offensive. sorry!

this includes not just white people but non-black poc too. i get it, you want to be supportive, but just make sure you’re never stepping on anyone’s toes. often times while trying to be an ally those voices tend to overpower black ones & that’s when there’s a problem.

okay so! i think that’s all i have to say. this thread in no way is me trying to be seen as woke or whatever y’all want to call it but people asked and i just answered what helps me personally. if there’s any questions at all please please dm me or my cc link is in my bio!

i hope this thread was helpful, thank you for taking the time to read !
end of thread

adding to the thread, here is a navigation of petitions to sign, gofundme’s to donate to, information about the movement, etc. please do whatever you can to help https://twitter.com/danitycafe/status/1266063302335115266?s=21 https://twitter.com/danitycafe/status/1266063302335115266