In lieu of posting this week I want to make it clear that I utterly condemn the acts of the police forces in the US – and also all too frequently in my home country of the UK – in committing acts of racist violence against the Black community. If you have the means, please donate to Minnesota Freedom Fund, Reclaim the Block, Black Visions Collective and/or Northstar Health Collective. There is also a direct fund to memorialise George Floyd. If you’re like me and don’t have specific geographic ties within the US, here is a service that allows you to donate an amount and split the benefit between several bail funds throughout the US. If you also want to donate to UK-specific charities, see the list below. These are just some charities to whom you could consider giving patronage – it’s not an exhaustive list. There is only one side to take on this – it is an issue of fundamental human rights, and if we do not support the Black community, both now and on an ongoing basis, we are upholding the structures that allow racism to exist. We can’t look away.
Relevant UK Charities
Please see resources below for a doc with more charities.
- The Stephen Lawrence Trust – tackling racial inequality in the UK.
- UK Black Pride – supporting Black LGBTQIA in the UK
- The Access to Justice Foundation – promoting equal access to justice across the UK legal systems.
- LawWorks – support and advice for individuals in accessing the justice systems in England and Wales
- SCOLAG – support for equal access to the justice system in Scotland.
- Govan Law Centre – free legal advice in Glasgow.
Resources
Some of the lists that I’m providing are aimed at people who, like me, are not Black and want to educate themselves on how to be a better ally and to engage in anti-racist thought and action.
- List of BLM movement resources put together by librarians
- A whole Google Drive full of information about the history of racial justice movements including BLM
- A whole Twitter thread of excellent resources full of information about the current situation as well as further actions you can take to help
- A Twitter thread of relevant non-fiction by Black authors
- An anti-racist reading list by Ibram X Kendi
- A list of texts on Goodreads for learning about anti-racism
- Advice for how we in the UK can help – including an extensive list of charities across the UK which deal with racial inequality and justice
- A guide to how to be an ally
If anyone has any further resources or information they’d like me to include, please let me know.
