#6: Mostly links

And one tweet embed that came out super huge

June 04, 2020

Actual Updates

Yeah, this isn’t the time for me to talk about what I did two weeks ago or whatever. No one cares, and no one should care.

Instead, I want to talk about how proud I am of everyone I know - quite a lot of people, actually - who went out to protests these past few days. I was terrified for you and I still am; I hope none of you come down with the coronavirus from this, although it sounds like most people were being as careful as possible. But you’re right to go - sometimes you have to risk your health and life if something is important, and this is. And for those of us (and here I do mean white people) whose life is only at risk from a disease and not ALSO from racist police violence, it’s doubly important. If you can, interposing your white body between the cops and Black people could quite literally save lives. I wish I could have gone; I’m not sure “but you have a kid!” is an excuse, because shouldn’t I be setting him a good example?

To make up for my physical inaction, I’ve been reading a lot and donating wherever I can, and the links section this month is going to be mostly that - useful articles, orgs to donate to that are helping people on the ground and working to effect change, toolkits - although I’ve still got some unrelated links saved from earlier in the month for those moments when you need to let your brain take a breath.

Also, I can’t speak to a personal experience of police violence due to my race - you can find AMPLE writing on the subject by Black people if you need more, it is but a Google away - but I can speak to police violence due to being a protestor. I’ve been tear-gassed a solid dozen times and had to run away from rubber bullets, and 0 of those times was I doing anything threatening or illegal. I wasn’t even standing near to someone doing something threatening or illegal. I was standing, chanting, marching, or just walking through an area - but if it’s a protest, they are looking at every non-cop present as a potential threat, apparently. Simply being present makes you their enemy. You’re a “rioter” who is “invading” their city. The same language is used constantly and consistently. And this is why I’m not surprised to read that after much was made of police who knelt down with protestors and set their weapons down and whatnot, those same police turned around and started beating and gassing protestors:

It’s why I’m not surprised to hear about what happened here in Boston, at the end of a 6-hour completely peaceful march; cops drove cars into the packed streets, people started running (as you would if someone drove a car at you) and trying to escape, only to find all the T stations closed in the vicinity and streets blocked by police and tear gas. Then they started arresting people for not dispersing when they were told to. Disperse to where?? 53 people were arrested. People were hit with bikes (like, cops picking up their bikes and using them to press or strike people with). I know I’m cynical, but how can this surprise you either? If you protest, if you’re present at a protest, they’re already leery of you - and it takes nearly nothing at all to make that edginess flash over into violence.

I don’t say this to keep you out of the streets - the opposite, I think everyone who can take the risks needs to be there - but to add yet another voice to the chorus that this isn’t isolated behavior and it’s NOT because these protests are somehow worse or scarier or more violent (hmmmm where could those ideas come from???) than other ones in the past. They’re not; this is standard practice. Please stay safe out there and be as careful as you can.

Some links

Ok, first, here’s the useful stuff. You’ve probably seen a lot of it before - cool. There are no prizes for originality in this, and we all really do need to be on the same page. I love, for instance, that two bail funds I know about have gotten so flooded with donations (because everyone’s giving to the same places) that they’ve recommended people donate elsewhere. The guides are all on the order of “white people, here is how to commence to get your shit together” because that’s who needs a guide.

Guides

Let’s start with the Google doc you’ve probably seen - the anti-racism resources for white people - it’s got a plethora of information to help you educate yourself and others, books to read, movies to watch… if you’ve already read/watched/learned some of the stuff in there, you can bet there’s something else you haven’t.

This is a list of 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice and it includes acts you can do that are big, small, public, private, free, cost you money, relate to yourself, others, adults, kids … it’s a wealth of good ideas.

How to Be Actively Anti-Racist - this pulls together some key takeaways from Ibram X. Kendi’s essay on the subject for the New York Times. Remember that being “not racist” isn’t enough; that lets it go unchecked. We need to actively destroy racism in every form, from the small to the systemic.

This guide on Non-Optical Allyship has some good takeaways to make sure your allyship is not performative. It does include one tip that I want to talk about a bit more, though, and that’s the second one, to check in on your Black friends. Listen and read the room when it comes to this - don’t force your friends into a conversation with you if they’re not trying to have one, don’t center yourself and your feelings in the conversation, and please be sure you know the difference between a Black person who is your friend and someone who you happen to know who is Black. Basically, do not further exhaust people who are already exhausted.

Organizations to donate to

Obviously this isn’t meant to be an exclusive list, and it can change (for instance, I haven’t included the Minnesota Freedom Fund or North Star Health because they got so many donations that they’ve pointed donors elsewhere for now, but they’re obviously a worthy organization doing vital work).

The Bail Project - especially important right now as people are being arrested at protests, but also important all the time because this cash bail system we have in this country is especially onerous on Black and Brown communities.

Black Lives Matter - there may also be a local/state chapter in your area if you’d prefer to keep it local, or if you’d like to donate to the chapter in a particular area. Check out the Chapters dropdown on the page for info.

Emergency Release Fund - specifically working to keep trans people safe and out of jails, although at the moment they’ve expanded their mandate due to COVID-19 and how it’s running rampant through jails. Going to jail can be fatal for trans people even without a pandemic, and now there’s another layer of danger.

Minnesota-specific

Black Visions Collective - Black, trans, and queer-led social justice organization in Minnesota

Funds and petitions related to specific individuals who have been murdered recently

It is horrific that this list has only continued to grow since protests began. Bear in mind that in addition to helping the organizations listed above that work towards larger systemic change, the families of murdered Black people still need a hand with legal fights, funeral expenses, making ends meet after losing a support to their family… the list goes on.

Tony McDade: Justice for Tony McDade petition - there was also a Gofundme for his family but they’ve closed it after an overwhelming outpouring of donations. That said, justice has not yet been served, so go ahead and sign the petition.

James Scurlock: Gofundme for his family - he was shot while he was out protesting in Omaha, by a known white supremacist. The County Attorney said they wouldn’t be pressing charges. LATE UPDATE: the County Attorney is now convening a grand jury to review the evidence! That’s a step in the right direction!

David McAtee: Gofundme for his family - he was a restaurant owner in Louisville who was shot by police while protests were going on, but nowhere near where they were occurring.

Things you can do in your city or state

Buy from Black-owned businesses! Here’s a site that lists out Black-owned businesses in all sorts of fields here in Boston; google “black-owned business [your city/area]” for a list if you’re not around here. Of course, you could also search specifically for restaurants, services, stores that sell this or that… whatever you’re in the market for.

The Mayor’s office in your town is responsible for the budget, so that makes them the best place to contact if you might be, for instance, interested in defunding the police. Here’s the contact section for the Boston Mayor’s Office, and here’s a template document about defunding the police put together by the Boston Muslim League. You won’t be able to use that as-is in another city, since it has specifics, but you could keep some of the language the same and change the particulars!

Ayanna Pressley has introduced a resolution against police brutality; contact your congressperson to urge them to support it! She’s already my congresswoman, not to brag, so I will just point you to the “Find my congressperson” search to find yours and get their contact info.

Ok, now the unrelated articles

Did you know people still wrote funny or fascinating things this month? They did! Here are a couple!

I’m going to start saying “I love [whoever] as much as ten explosions!” The Great Thing About the Movie “Amadeus” Is It’s Just “What If Spock Absolutely Hated Kirk and Killed Him”

I have never been a (daytime) soaps guy - although of course plenty of “prestige dramas” are just soap operas in primetime with better lighting. This is fascinating. How Soap Operas Changed TV Forever

Some tunes I’ve been listening to lately

They’re not especially relevant. They’re just good songs, in case you wanted to hear some good songs.

Well, this one is literally about a protest. But kind of a doofy one.

Shh don’t tell anyone but this is a cover that’s better than the original:

Don’t read anything into the chorus saying “put your hands where I can see ‘em.” It is probably the only positive iteration of that phrase. Also, I only know this from a specific live album, and it doesn’t look like any of the videos out there are from that show, so they all sound kind of “wrong” to me. The album version definitely is Not It. This is the closest version, I think?

This month’s top 5: good metaphors to deploy against “all lives matter”-ers

  1. The best is from Lane Moore: If you ask your significant other if they love you, and they say “I love everyone”

  2. Going to a breast cancer fundraiser and standing up and announcing “All diseases are bad!”

  3. This one was from Twitter a couple years ago and I can’t be sure who said it originally, but: running up to a stranger’s funeral and yelling “I TOO HAVE EXPERIENCED LOSS!”

  4. Plot twist: saying “all lives matter” to a “blue lives matter” person is always a treat

  5. My High School Friend (note: we did not know each other, we were just in some classes together) Seth Rogen just replying “fuck you” to any such comments on his BLM-supporting posts.

Ok, this took me several days to write, so some of it is probably already out of date, but I hope some portion of it was useful or interesting! I love you all, and I hope you’re staying as safe as you can while metaphorically punching racists in the dick (I would never condone actual dick-punching, of course! Plenty of racists don’t have dicks). And, since it’s Pride month, after all, I’ll leave you with a typically awkward set of Bisexual Finger Guns: 👈😉👈 (yeah, I said it) (also yeah that’s a thing, apparently! It checks out!!)

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