Google
whether your local police department currently outfits all on-duty
police officers with a body-worn camera and requires that the body-worn
camera be turned on immediately when officers respond to a police call.
If they don’t, write to your city or town government representative and
police chief to advocate for it. The racial make-up of your town doesn’t
matter — This needs to be standard everywhere. Multiply your voice by
soliciting others to advocate as well, writing on social media about it,
writing op-eds, etc.
Google
whether your city or town currently employs evidence-based police
de-escalation trainings. The racial make-up of your town doesn’t matter —
This needs to be standard everywhere. Write to your city or town
government representative and police chief and advocate for it. Multiply
your voice by soliciting others to advocate as well, writing on social
media about it, writing op-eds, etc.
More
and more stories of black folks encountering racism are being
documented and shared through social media — whether it’s at a hotel,
with the police, in a coffee shop, at a school, etc. When you see such a
post, call the organization, company, or institution involved to tell
them how upset you are. Then share the post along with the institution’s
contact information, spreading the word about what happened and
encouraging others to contact the institution as well. Whether the
company initiated the event or failed to protect a POC during an
onslaught by a third party, they need to hear from us.
If
you or a friend is an educator, buy said friend books that feature POC
as protagonists and heroes, no matter the racial make-up of the class. A
few good lists are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. And/or purchase educational toys that feature POC, such as finger puppets, Black History Flashcards,
etc for their classroom. Use these items year-round, not just in
February. The racial make-up of students doesn’t matter — kids of every
race need to know American history and be exposed to people from
different races, religions, and countries. If the friend is interested,
buy them for your pal’s classroom. Don’t be shy to ask Facebook friends
that you haven’t actually talked to in ten years.
If you or a friend or family member is an educator, watch or share this video
of Neil deGrasse Tyson speaking about his experience as a black student
telling people he wanted to be a scientist and astrophysicist. Tyson’s
experience reminds me of a black friend whose high school teachers tried
to dissuade her from taking AP classes, because, with the best of
intentions, they thought the AP classes would be “too much” for her. Be
an educator who supports and encourages, not one who dissuades. Talk to
educators you know about being educators who support and encourage, not
educators who dissuade.
Work
on ensuring that black educators are hired where black children are
being taught. If you want to know more about why and how this makes a
difference for black children, check out this episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast.
There are some really good nuggets in there about how schools can
support the achievement of black students — from ensuring black students
aren’t closed out of gifted programs by using test results instead of
white teachers’ recommendations to the influence that having a black
teacher has on a black student’s education to the importance to
fostering a school ethos wherein black students think, “This school is
here for me.”
Many
companies have recruiting channels that are predominantly white. Work
with your HR department to recruit Americans who are descendants of
enslaved Africans. Recruiting from HBCUs is a good start. Work to put
descendants of enslaved Africans already hired under supportive
managers.
Bank
black. It doesn’t have to be all of your checking or savings. Opening
up an account with some money is better than no account at all. You can
use the link from #9 (type “banking” in the Category field) or this site
to find a bank. At the very least, move some or all of your checking,
savings, mortgage, etc out of Wells Fargo as a part of the divestment movement to protect Standing Rock.
Don’t buy from companies that use prison labor. Find a good list here.
Read up about mandatory minimum sentences and watch videos about this on Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM’s) website.
FAMM’s website includes work being done at the federal level and state
level. Call or write to your state legislators and governor about
reducing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes.
To
reduce mandatory minimum sentences on a federal level, call or write to
your federal legislators in support of the bipartisan (sponsored by Sen
Lee (R-UT)) Smarter Sentencing Act (S. 2850) which reduces the length
of federal mandatory minimum drug sentences by half, makes the Fair
Sentencing Act’s crack sentencing reforms retroactive, and expands the
“safety valve” exception to mandatory drug sentences.
To
reduce mandatory minimum sentences on a federal level, call or write to
your federal legislators in support of the bipartisan (sponsored by Sen
Rand (R-KY)) Justice Safety Valve Act (S. 399, H.R. 1097), which would
allow judges to give sentences other than the mandatory minimum sentence
for any federal crime.
To
reduce mandatory minimum sentences on a federal level, call or write
your federal legislators in support of another great criminal justice
reform bill, the Second Look Act, which would make reduced sentences for
crack convictions from the previously passed Fair Sentencing Act
retroactive, reduce mandatory minimums for people convicted more than
three times for drug crimes from life without parole after the third
offense to 25 years, reduce mandatory sentences for drug crimes from 15
to 10 years, limit the use of solitary confinement on juvenile
prisoners, etc.
Call
or write to your state legislators and governor to support state-wide
criminal justice reform including reducing mandatory minimum sentences,
reducing sentences for non-violent drug crimes, passing “safety valve”
law to allow judges to depart below a mandatory minimum sentence under
certain conditions, passing alternatives to incarceration, etc. Study after study shows that racism fuels racial disparities in imprisonment, and most of the US prison population are at the state and local level.
Call or write to state legislators to require racial impact statements
be required for all criminal justice bills. Most states already require
fiscal and environmental impact statements for certain legislation.
Racial impact statements evaluate if a bill may create or exacerbate
racial disparities should the bill become law. Check out the status of
your state’s legislation surrounding these statements here.
Find and join a local “white space”
to learn more about and talk out the conscious and unconscious biases
us white folks have. If there’s not a group in your area, start one.
Join or start a Daughters of Abraham book club in your Church, mosque, or synagogue.
Join
your local Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) group. There is a lot
of awesome work going on locally — Get involved in the projects that
speak to you.
Do deep canvassing
about race and racial justice. Many SURJ groups are organizing them, so
many people can do it through your local SURJ group. If they’re not
already doing it, start it.
Research
your local prosecutors. Prosecutors have a lot of power to give fair
sentences or Draconian ones, influence a judge’s decision to set bail or
not, etc. In the past election, a slew of fair-minded prosecutors were
elected. We need more.
Participate in reparations. One way is through this Facebook group. Remember reparations isn’t just monetary — share your time, skills, knowledge, connections, etc. Thank you to Clyanna Blyanna for suggesting this addition.
Read
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Better yet, get a group of
friends together to read it like a book club would — read, then discuss.
Read
Caught by Marie Gottschalk. Better yet, get a group of friends together
to read it like a book club would — read, then discuss.
Read
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Yep, get a group of
friends together to read it like a book club would — read, then discuss.
Read A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Thank you to Steve Senatori for suggesting this addition.
Read
Orange is the New Black. The information the author shares about the
ease with which one can be charged with “conspiracy” to sell drugs, the
damage done from long sentences that don’t fit the crime due to
mandatory minimum sentencing, the ever-present threat of solitary
confinement at a Correction Officer’s whim, and other specific harmful
practices in the prison system are well done. Get a group of friends
together to read it like a book club would — read, then discuss.
Read The Color of Law. Get your friends on board reading it, too.
Especially if you or a friend is an educator, read or share bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress.
Buy
books, choose TV shows and movies, and opt for toys for your kids,
nieces, nephews, etc that show people from different races, religions,
countries and that teach real American history. A few ideas: the books,
toys, and flashcards from #4.
Find
out how slavery, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow era are being taught
in your local school. Advocate that history is taught correctly and
certain parts are not skipped over or barely mentioned. Advocate that
many voices be used in the study of history. Is the school teaching
about post-Civil War convict leasing, the parent to our current mass
incarceration system? Talking about slavery alone, is your school
showing images such as Gordon’s scourged back, a slave ship hold, and an enslaved nurse holding her young master?
Are explorers, scientists, politicians, etc who are POC discussed? Are
male and female authors who are POC on reading lists? Are Japanese
internment camps being discussed? Is history explained correctly in
history books? As an example of a severe failure to teach the reality of
slavery and its ramifications, check out image 1 and image 2 . There are a lot of great resources out there with a little googling, like PBS’s resources for teaching slavery, this POC Online Classroom blog, Teaching for Change, and The National Association for Multicultural Education.
Arrange for cultural exchanges and cultural ambassadors in your local school’s classrooms. The International Classroom program at UPenn and People to People International are options. The Dept of Education
has a good list. Cultural exchanges via the interwebs are very
valuable. Actual human interaction between people from different races,
religions, and countries (ie: cultural ambassadors) and students in the
physical classroom is ideal.
Seek out a diverse group of friends for your kids.
Seek
out a diverse group of friends for you. Practice real friendship and
intimacy by listening when POC talk about their experiences and their
perspectives. They’re speaking about their pain.
Watch these videos
to hear first hand accounts of what our black brothers and sisters
live. Then read everyday people’s experiences through the hashtag
#realizediwasblack. Share with others.
Got people in your life who are black? Contribute to their kids’ college savings.
Call
or write to your national legislators, state legislators, and governor
in favor of affirmative action. Encourage friends to do the same.
Write to your college/university about implementing all or some of these diversity strategies
that effectively promote racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity on
campus. Write to the public universities your tax payer dollars support
about implementing these diversity strategies.
Write to the US Sentencing Commission (PubAffairs@ussc.gov) and ask them to: — reform the career offender guideline to lessen the length of sentences — change the guidelines so that more people get probation — change the criminal history guidelines so that a person’s criminal record counts against them less — change guidelines to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent crimes
— conduct a study to review the impact of parental incarceration on
minor children. With more data, the Commission could modify the
Sentencing Guidelines and allow judges to take this factor into account
when sentencing individuals for non-violent crimes. — conduct a
study to review whether the Bureau of Prisons is following the
Commission’s encouragement to file a motion for compassionate release
whenever “extraordinary and compelling reasons” exist. — consider amending the guidelines to reduce sentences for first offenders.
Read Van Jones’ short and to-the-point article about the racial biases of reporters. More examples are here. Check out this article
discussing how media coverage of the opioid epidemic — which largely
affects suburban and rural whites — portrays it as an outside threat and
focuses on treatment and recovery, while stories of heroin in the
1970s, crack-cocaine in the 1980s, and other drug problems that impact
urban people of color today have focused on the drug user’s morality.
Keep an eye out for such biases, and use social media and direct
communication to the media outlet to call them out when they occur.
Know our American history. Watch Roots, 12 Years a Slave, Mississippi Burning, and Selma, to name a few.
Check
out black movies, TV, and other media that show POC as lead characters
and in their full humanity. Queen Sugar, Insecure, Dear White People,
The Carmichael Show, Blackish, Grownish, Atlanta, 2 Dope Queens, Black
Panther, A Wrinkle in Time, Get Out, Girls Trip, Mudbound, How to Get
Away with Murder, Scandal, The Cloverfield Paradox, Sorry to Bother You,
Blindspotting, BlacKkKlansman, Little, If Beale Street Could Talk,
Queen and Slim, PBS’ Great Performance of Much Ado about Nothing, youtube videos of Amber Says What, and Pose are a few. Share them with friends. In addition, if you can’t watch the whole video, watch 13:12 to 15:17 of this discussion about working in Hollywood when you’re not white.
Know what indigenous land you’re living on by looking that this map
and research the groups that occupied that land before you did. Find
out what local activism those groups are doing and give your money and
time to those efforts.
When people say that Black Lives Matter is a violent/terrorist group, explain to them that there are fringe groups that are being misrepresented as part of BLM. If conservatives don’t want to be lumped in with the KKK, they can’t lump violent protesters in with BLM.
When people ask, “Why aren't you talking about ‘black-on-black crime’?” and other myths about BLM, let Francesca Ramsey help you with those talking points.
Be
honest about our history. One genocide, another genocide, then
apartheid. It sucks, but it’s true. We’ll never be free from our history
unless we’re honest about it. Denial is our pathology, but the truth
will set us free.
If
you have a close relationship with a young person of color, make sure
he/she knows how much you love them. Love and affirm that child.
Write to your city or town government representative to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day like these cities did.
Personally divest your investments in private prisons and detention centers. Start here. Many people are divesting from Wells Fargo for their substantial role in Standing Rock and from private prison companies Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, CoreCivic, and G4S.
Write
to your state legislators to end cash bail. It means that a someone who
is legally innocent is put in jail because they can’t afford bail. It
means that a defendant can be released pre-trial because of their
wealth, not how much of a flight risk they are. It puts more people in
detention (which tax payers pay for) and affects a defendants’ ability
to maintain employment, access mental and physical healthcare, and be in
communication with their family and friends, etc. Housing the
approximately 500,000 people in jail in the US awaiting trial who cannot
afford bail costs US taxpayers $9 billion a year. Thank you to Elizabeth B. and Cynthia Astle for suggesting this addition.
Add
attend town halls, candidate meet-and-greets, etc for political
candidates and ask about ending mass incarceration, reducing mandatory
minimum sentences, reducing or ending solitary confinement,
decriminalizing weed, ending cash bail, divesting from private prisons,
divesting from banks, divesting from banks that finance the Dakota
Access Pipeline, etc.
Read this article about an overt white supremacist’s son’s journey to relinquish white supremacy and watch this video
about Daryl Davis, a black man who gets KKK members to disavow by
befriending them. For those you know who are overtly racist (see #51),
think about ways you can create exposure for them to people who don’t
look like them, share their religion, etc. Jane Elliott says, “People
who are racist aren’t stupid, they’re ignorant. And the answer to
ignorance is education.” Frederick Douglass notes, “It is easier to
build strong children than to repair broken men.” It may be best to
focus on children, adolescents, and young adults currently being raised
by overtly racist parents. Maybe it’s tutoring them so they could get on
a college track, encouraging them to study abroad, or turning them on
to colleges where not everyone looks like them and shares their
religion, etc. Maybe it’s spending time with them on some regularity and
showing them the achievements and beauty of non-white cultures. Be
creative.
Talk
to the white people you know who aren’t clearly upset by white
supremacy. Use “I” statements and “I care” messages (“I feel [feeling]
when you [behavior]”). They need to know you see a problem. Call them
out, and call them in. As a start, ask them to watch the videos in #47.
For people you know who’ve been radicalized by FOX News and other
nationalist (not conservative) media, who’ve been so pummeled with fear
and hatred of “the other” that they’ve become ISIS-like towards others,
how can you and other family and friends guide them through conversation
to show them that their actions are now in direct contrast with the
values they feign to purport?
A
wise former teacher once said, “The question isn’t: Was the act racist
or not? The question is: How much racism was in play?” So maybe racism
was 3% of the motivation or 30% or 95%. Interrogate the question “How
much racism was in play?” as you think about an incident. Share this
idea with the people in your life when they ask, “Was that racist?”
As
a nod to #72, don’t become the monster, as you try to kill the monster.
As Gloria Steinem says, “The ends don’t justify the means. The means
are the ends.”
Credit
Black men and women. Kara Springer, a black woman artist, created the
image/public art that begins this piece. It’s called A Small Matter of Engineering, Part II. Christian Campbell tweeted to ensure the art was attributed appropriately and correctly.
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