Take Action in Solidarity with Black Lives

You’ve probably already started, but this page from Indivisible is a good starting place, too (or a resource to restart). Background, calls to action, resources to learn more, and ways to contribute. A small sample:

We have a national crisis of white supremacist violence against Black people in this country. In the past 10 years alone, we witnessed the deaths of thousands of Black people at the hands of police. Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and Philando Castile are just some of the names of those we’ve lost to racialized police violence. And the COVID-19 pandemic has only created more opportunities for police to question and detain Black people. In New York City, for example, from March 16 to May 5, over half of the summonses issued related to social distancing enforcement were issued to Black residents even though they make up only a quarter of the city’s residents.

One of the key ways to limit police violence in the future is by decreasing funding for police forces and carceral institutions, and investing that money in programs, especially in Black communities, that support people’s well-being —things like schools, nutrition assistance, addiction treatment, social workers, and more. Our recommendation is to follow the lead of the Movement for Black Lives by calling to defund police forces and invest in communities; you can make a call to your local officials using our script here.