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This is a longer thread but please read if you are white person looking at current events & wondering what you can do to help. I want to take a second to challenge/encourage my white friends and family to commit to working on responding to systemic racism & criminal justice 1/13
I know it can feel overwhelming to know what to do or where to start, so I want to share some practical and actionable items that you can do starting now, in a COVID safe way 2/13
1. Identify a charity/non-profit in your area with a social justice or anti-racist mission and donate. Many places are getting donations now and that is great, but also set yourself a calendar reminder for three months, six months, and nine months from now and donate again. 3/13
Recognize that the work continues even when we aren't as focused on it and that big one time donations are helpful but regular on-going donations are crucial. 4/13
2. Spend your money in your community on businesses owned by Black people and other people of color. Make a list of restaurants, book stores, grocery stores and/or home services. Commit to spending money at one of those places at least once a month. 5/13
3. Diversify your bookshelf: Whether you buy books (at a local, independent bookstore) or go to the library, prioritize books by non-white authors. And while reading books about slavery, racism, social justice is great, it isn't enough. There are GREAT books in all genres 6/13
If you have kids, do a bookshelf check. Do they have books that feature Black characters but that aren't about slavery, civil rights, or sports? Some great books for little readers include Jabari Jumps, Feast for Ten, So Much, Please Baby Please, and Hair Love 7/13
4. What are you listening to? There are some great podcasts that should be part of your regular rotation if your goal is to be culturally literate &committed to hearing Black voices. Some options include: Code Switch, It's Been a Minute, The Nod, Two Dope Queens, & The Read 8/13
5. Support your local public schools, esp those serving Black kids. You can support public ed by how you vote, where you send your kids, where you donate time, money, or resources. Things like paying off school lunch balances and donating supplies are a good place to start 9/13
6. Engage your white family/friends: Fact check bullshit when you see it from your Fox loving relatives. Make it awkward at Thanksgiving. White people need to deal with our own and not expect the work of explaining racism to fall to our Black, indigenous, or POC 10/13
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 11/13
7. Consider where you worship. If your place of worship isn't talking about racism or social justice, why not? EVERY congregation should be talking about justice and recognizing the long term damage caused by the silence of white believers. 12/13
I write this from a place of assuming that you want to know better, do better, and be an ally. If that isn't you and you still think the goal is to be "color blind" or that you aren't a racist because you've never said the "n-word", let's talk. 13/13
