After writing my initial post about being an ally, I found more resources and information I wanted to share, which seemed easier to do through making a second post. A lot of the posts here won’t be just about police brutality, but will expand on how racism has affected Black lives in the United States. There are still links to petitions, donation funds, and other ways to support the Black Lives Matter movement, but the focus here will be more about listening to the stories of the Black people who have dealt with racism to this day.
If you haven’t read the first post where I focus mainly on police brutality, you can read it here.
If you want to understand the difference between POC vs. BIPOC vs. African American vs. Black vs. BAME, this video from Packs Light gives a great explanation:
This Twitter thread provides some useful information if you are pulled over by the cops (go through the whole thread, as there are clarifications and information for those who don’t have IPhones):
About Protests from around the country:
-Drag March for Change in Chicago:
-Black Trans Lives March in Brooklyn:
Just a reminder for those who want to go out and protest, but are unable to (There is also more information in the thread about ways to support):
If you are planning on going to a protest though, this infographic explains why wearing a mask is important! We are still in the middle of a pandemic, so it’s important to stay safe and follow social distancing guidelines!
-Angela Davis at the Port Shutdown in Oakland, California:
I also want to include this video from Hasan Piker, where he talks about the hypocrisy of the U.S. news coverage of the Hong Kong protests vs. the Black Lives Matters protests:
This Twitter thread from public defender Emily Galvin-Almanza provides insight on how a lot of the behind the scenes work when it comes to the operations of police departments:
As I’m interested in reading and writing, I like following Book related content on Youtube and Instagram. Here are various videos from Black booktubers discussing their experience on Booktube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=being+black+on+booktube
If you don’t want to go through the search history, here is a Twitter thread which is a list of videos from Black Booktuber’s discussing their experience:
I want to include this video as well, even though this concerns something that happened a couple years ago in the Booktube community. It covers a lot of topics that we are talking about today, and that statement right there says a lot about why we need to keep talking about racism and how race is discussed in the United States:
Books to Read:
-If you have children and want them to read more diversely, this post from Timeout.com has a great list of book recommendations:
-I found this article from WMagazine which includes lots of suggestions for books to read:
-Here is a thread of new up and coming books from Black authors:
-If you like graphic novels, here is a thread you can check out with graphic novels from Black authors in the LGBTQIA+ community:
Articles and Blogs to Read:
-“How White Women Can Use Their Privilege to End Racism:” by Dr. Tikia K. Hamilton provides great insight for those of us who are white women, or white passing:
https://zora.medium.com/finding-our-better-beckies-59b4fa9b242f
-Dr. Hamilton’s article is from the Medium Blog, Momentum, which has more resources for further educating yourself, or to keep up with what is going on:
-If you want to learn more about the Civil Rights movement in the sixties, here is an article about Medgar Evers, a field worker for the NAACP and important figure in the Civil Rights Movement, who was murdered on June 12, 1963:
https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/evers-medgar/
-An article discussing how racism is involved in student debt and education:
-If you support our Veterans, read this article about how the GI Bill was denied to many Black WWII veterans:
https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits
-Here’s an article from the New York Times about Juneteenth:
History Articles to check out:
-Here’s an article that gives background on the Stonewall Riots:
https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/the-stonewall-riots
-An article about the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921:
-An article about the Rosewood Massacre in 1923:
https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/rosewood-massacre
-For a little Canadian Black history, here is an article about Africville in Nova Scotia:
https://humanrights.ca/story/the-story-of-africville
Here is the story of Oluwatoyin Salau (Toyin), who fought for those who are often left out of the conversation of justice for Black Lives, such as Black women, those who are disabled and those who are LGBTQIA+. After posting a thread about a recent sexual assault on Twitter, Toyin went missing, and was found dead a week later. Her murderer, has confessed to her murder, as well as the murder of Victoria Sims. Here are a couple articles which go into greater detail:
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/16/21292237/oluwatoyin-salau-death
If you see any Go Fund Me’s for Toyin’s funeral, please look into them first. This thread goes into the reasons why you shouldn’t donate to the Go Fund Me’s created by her family:
I know there was discussion about her friends starting one, but I haven’t seen anything else from them. As I said before, if you want to donate to the Go Fund Me’s, look into them first and make sure they’re legit (which is a good general rule of thumb to go by when it comes to donating anywhere).
More stories of those who have suffered from the hands of police brutality:
-The story of what many fear to be modern day lynchings across the United States:
This post from Democracy Now! has some more up-to-date information: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/18/headlines/fear_grows_of_modern_day_lynchings_as_six_people_of_color_are_found_hanged
-The story of Yunek Moore from Peroria, Illinois:
-Elijah McClain from Aurora, Colorado:
-Andres Guardado from Los Angeles, California:
Let’s remember Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells from Philadelphia, PA and Riah Milton from Butler County, Ohio.
Dominique’s story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dominique-fells-murder-arrest-warrant-issued-for-heartless-and-cruel-slaying-philadelphia-black-transgender-woman/
Let’s also remember:
Jennifer Jeffley (who was 15 at the time) was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her neighbor 20 years ago. She opened up about how she didn’t commit the murder, and is actually innocent:
This story about is one woman’s Girl Scout camping experience and the lengths the mom’s went to protect her troop :
A thread discussing what landlords in the Bronx were doing to housing developments that were predominantly filled by Black people:
A reminder about the fact that Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black girls to attend a White school during segregation, is only 65 years old, and will be turning 66 this year:
This post is kind of random, but here is a thread about how the conversation of racism is playing out in the horse world:
These next couple of videos discuss colorism, and how it is prevalent in the entertainment industry, as well as how it affects mainly Black women. If you haven’t read Killing Rage by bell hooks, I would also suggest reading it to better understand the topic, and the depth which it affects the Black community.
–Colorism in your Favorite Sitcoms from the channel I Am Eloho
–Black Men Hate Black Women, Won Nation, Woman Thrown in Dumpster Etc. from the channel Most of Miree. I also want to include this video, because towards the end, she discusses the dangers of protesting, which are important to keep in mind so that you can stay safe.
Here are various Instagram Posts which have a lot of educational content, so if you want something to read that isn’t simply a book or an article, check out these posts:
-How the publishing industry can uplift voices and create a more equal playing field:
-Here’s a post that goes through and shows how white-washed our history lessons in the United States are:
Along similar lines, here is a Twitter thread that discusses the white-washing of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and more:
-Here’s a post that goes into detail about events from Black history which aren’t widely taught:
-It’s also important to discuss how racism affects the medical industry:
If you need legal resources, check these out:
https://www.knowyourrightscamp.com/legal
naacpldf.org/about-us/
Here are additional posts with resources you can check out to further educate yourself:
https://www.swaay.com/ally-resources-black-lives-matter
Have you signed all the petitions, and donated as much as possible? This Instagram post has more ways you can support:
If you still want to find more organizations to support, donate to, or petitions to sign, here are some you can check out:
As of right now, Breonna Taylor has not received justice, after three months. Here is how you can help:
As always, it is important to take care of yourself, especially as this is an ongoing fight that will keep going until there is truly justice and equality for the Black community. Here are somethings you can do to take care:
Take the time to listen to these stories, as they are just as important as the discussion about police brutality. These stories show how much racism still affects the lives of Black people (mainly in the United States) to this day. It reminds us of why it’s important to have these conversations about race, as there are still many issues that are relevant today. As much as we’d like to believe we are past the days of being racist, the stories being told by Black people who have these experiences tells us otherwise.
Keep educating yourself, keep listening, and most importantly, keep making this country into something better. At this point, it’s not something we should just want to do, it’s something we need to do.
While you’re already here, why not check these links out?
Eclectic Erin 
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