In the midst of a global pandemic that has disproportionately impacted people of color and Black people in particular, protests of police brutality across the country are being met by still more state-sanctioned intimidation and violence. In New York City, we have an eight o’clock curfew. The agitated whir of police propellers offers a discomfiting lullaby for a city in crisis. Scratch that. It offers no lullaby at all.
Amidst the protests and pain and general messy and muddled waking up happening this week, I’m encouraging folks—specifically white people and non-black people of color—to support grassroots fundraising efforts run by and supporting Black people.
Please join me, wherever you are in your antiracism learning and unlearning, with whatever you have to offer, in this one small effort to a more just and equitable future.
These are the small funds I’ve shared on Instagram so far this week. I’ll be sharing more and updating this space in the days to come.
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The Free Black Women’s Library – Sister Outsider Relief Grant
“A mutual aid funding initiative to honor and nurture single Black mother artists, writers and cultural workers. These are women often freelance workers who pour their creativity into their children and the community. They often work off the books and can’t file for unemployment or other social services.”
Donate directly:
Venmo: @olaronke the Free Black Women’s Library
CashApp: $TFBWL
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Sustainable Brooklyn’s Rent Relief Fund
“Rent Relief Fund for members of our community who are struggling to pay rent due to #Covid19! Now we are circling back because we still need help! For those that don’t know… many landlords are still expecting us to pay rent during these times. So many families in our proximity are tirelessly working to survive, to protest, to organize, to be an essential worker with terrible pay, etc! Housing is yet another layer attacking our public safety – so we’re fighting for those on the front lines!”
Donate directly:
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sustainable-brooklyn-covid19-rent-relief-fund
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The Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund
“In partnership with Black Trans Travel Fund, For the Gworls, and The Okra Project, [Black Trans Femmes in the Arts] is raising funds to support Black trans protestors with resources, medical care, and bail. All funds that are not needed will be redistributed to black trans-led orgs doing the work to minimize violence against black trans folks.”
Donate directly:
CashApp: $btfacollective
Paypal: [email protected]
Venmo: @payjordynjay
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Birthday for Breonna
Today, in honor of Breonna Taylor’s birthday, please send donations directly to her family. Breonna would have turned twenty-seven today. She was an EMT in Louisville, Kentucky, killed by police officers who shot her eight times during an unannounced raid at the wrong apartment. The police officers have involved in her March 13 killing are on administrative leave and have not been charged with any crimes.
Donate directly:
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/9v4q2-justice-for-breonna-taylor
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Herbal Mutual Aid Network
“An herbal medicine drive for Black people seeking support due to the ongoing crisis of racial violence + injustice.” Donations cover shipping and materials costs for the network.“
Donate directly:
Venmo: @chat_noir_
Local folks: Salter House is selling peonies today (June 6) and donating all sales directly to the network.
NOTES:
+ These funds are small, grassroots, mutual aid funds getting resources directly into the hands of their community members. If you work for a company that matches donations, and/or you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation, please consider directing your donations to The Conscious Kid Anti-Racist Children’s Books Education Fund.
+ Intoning All Lives Matter as a response to posts on racial equity and justice can only be seen as a willful misinterpretation of the Black Lives Matter phrase and movement. Comments that invoke the phrase or are otherwise unproductive will not be published.
7 Comments
Thank you for your continual work to educate yourself, help educate your readers and uplift black women in particular with your platform. We see it on a regular basis and I appreciate the ways you have encouraged and inspired me to do better. Black Lives Matter!
Thank you for your solidarity. I have donated, marched, and done antiracist homeschooling this week, but now more than ever will commit to doing more in the months that follow. For those who aren’t as familiar with Erin’s back catalogue as I am, there are great resources here for support, antiracist reading, and the perspectives of BIPOC minimalists. I have appreciated them all over the years, as well as subtler and everyday ways in which you have begun to mark white privilege and foreground BIPOC voices.
It’s so good to see this post, Erin. I appreciate it. As an Afrolatina, I feel that when I share what you shared, my words fall on deaf (white) ears. We need allies so that someday my daughter won’t be silently sobbing at her desk among clueless (white) coworkers because of yet another killing.
Thank you for this list Erin!
Good for you. I’m so sick of that all lives matter response — utter B.S. The point for me is no life matters if black lives don’t matter. How hard is that to understand?
Erin your sharing of resources that support black women, businesses and organizations have been so enlightening and helpful to me as a white Arab-Canadian woman. I cannot adequately thank you for helping to make it easily accessible for me to educate myself, donate and support these resources – not just in the past few weeks, but for the past few years. I have long admired your commitment to supporting your black community and I’m very thankful that I may do so too.
I hope you and your family are well and I just wanted to openly acknowledge how meaningful your work in this area has been to me, and how it has so positively impacted my awareness and my choices.
Thank you. I’ve been mulling over my “lane” in this movement and I’ve found a way forward. I saw your post on IG about the Sister Outsider grant and made a donation.
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