Meaningful Action you Can Take
Commit to action to show your solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and anti-racism.
There are many ways you can do this:
- Show your support online – but be wary of overcrowding the streams with messages of support rather than using it to help amplify Black voices and share resources. ‘Clicktivism’ is a start, but should be followed through with action IRL
- Sign petitions online that have a global (or local) reach
- Color for Change
- NAACP
- We Can’t Breathe
- Change.Org on curriculum in the UK
- and many, many more…..(search online)
- Shop at black-owned businesses. Just some examples, but research ones in your city:
- Fashion/Leisure
- I Want You to Know
- Daughters of Bohemian
- Daily Paper
- Beauty
- LIHA
- RadSwan
- Afro Hair & Skin Co.
- Beauty Stack
- afrocenchix
- Publications
- Gal Dem
- Art
- Bonita Ivy
- Food & Confectionary
- YARD
- Berry & Brie
- Find more at Black Women’s Directory
- Contribute to a bail fund for protesters that are risking getting arrested by being on the ground, protesting, protecting vulnerable people, including Black communities, at rallies. Here are just a few options:
- Write to your MPs! Demand that the UK stop selling gear to aid in US Police violently responding to protesters, to condemn President Trump’s use of force against citizens
- Donate to grassroots Black-led charities, including Black Lives Matter (makes sure to check which charities are most in need of funds. Black-led charities will let you know where funds may be required)
- Educate yourself and others on issues of racism, the difference between non-racism and anti-racism. Do the work! Don’t expect Black activists to point you in the right direction, when you can find sources everywhere to listen/read/watch. Talk to others about it and share resources
- Resources on BLM
- Learn about Scotland’s role in the Slave Trade
- Intersectionality
- Books
- White Fragility – Robin Diangelo
- So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Olua
- How to be an Anti-Racist – Ibram X. Kendi
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander
- The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
- Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
- I Am Enough – Grace Byers
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? – Beverly Daniel Tatum
- Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor -Layla Saad
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Natives: Race & Class in the Ruins of Empire – Akala
- The Good Immigrant – Edited by Nikesh Shukla
- Black Listed – Jeffrey Boakye
- Shame on Me – Tessa McWatt
- Podcasts
- About Race
- Gal Dem
- The Diversity Gap
- Pod for the Cause
- Black Gals Livin’
- Witness Black History (BBC)
- Black British History (BBC)
- The Black Curriculum
- We Need to Talk About the British Empire
- Why the Windrush Scandal was no Accident
- No Country for Young Women
- Code Switch
- 1619
- Say Your Mind
- This is Spoke
- and many more….
- Films/TV
- Selma
- I Am Not Your Negro
- 13th
- See You Yesterday
- When They See Us
- Hidden Figures
- The Hate U Give
- Fruitvale Station
- Call out your relatives/friends/anybody that says racist statements, even if they are subtle. The power of reminding people why ‘harmless’ statements can indeed be harmful, should not be underestimated
- Diversify your news/social feed with Black voices and organisations to stay alert. Some feeds to follow:
- People
- Some organisations (not all UK):
- Be aware of cultural appropriation, including other people of colour (POC) using the N-word
- Look after your friends and fellow activists. Campaigning is hard and for Black/POC communities, the struggle can be their life
- Support the fight to change our curriculum in the UK
- Invest in the lives, businesses, art, election of black and POC representatives.
- Donate to the fund that the family of #GeorgeFloyd set up:
- Donate to the fund for Belly Mujinga’s family:
#BlackLivesMatter