I am keeping this post short and to the point, and if you’d like to hear more about what I have learned during this movement, listen to this episode Better Off Said Podcast.

I have compiled a few resources to help you educate yourself on the Black Lives Matter Movement and then advocated for the black community. My friend, Mary Myles, helped me with compiling these resources as she put together a 150-line Google sheet of resources and media to consume. She is amazing. Thank you Mary! If you’d like her full list, you can DM her here.

1. BE AWARE OF YOUR PRIVILEGE. Understand that you likely didn’t even think twice about these rules black parents have to engrain in their children.
2. Understand that #BlackLivesMatter isn’t just about the loss of life, it’s about the lack of consequences when blacks lives are taken at the hands of police. It also is not about saying black lives are more important that white lives, asian lives, mexican lives, etc; it’s about bringing light to the fact that black lives have been victims of institutional and systemic racism in a society that is designed to segregate them and hinder their opportunity in neighborhoods, schools and education, jobs, obtaining loans, etc.
3. Check if your local police department requires that officers wear body cams. If you find that they do not, write a letter to your representative and chief of police to advocate for it.
4. Watch this video about “black-on-black” crime.
5. Stand up to friends and family members who speak of or demonstrate racist words or actions or jokes. Or even just feel completely indifferent.
6. Support and donate to your local Black Lives Matter chapter.
   • Donate:
     • • CureViolence.org
       • ColorOfChange.com
       • InnocenceProject.org
       • NAACP Legal Defense Fund
       • ACLU
       • Equal Justice Initiative
   • Petition, call or text:
     • • Take Action to repeal NYS 50-A -https://www.changethenypd.org/
       • Sign the Justice for Big Floyd Petition. The goal is to get to three million signatures. When you sign, the platform will automatically send your message to County Attorney Michael Freeman, who has the power to arrest and charge the police officers involved.
       • Sign the #JusticeForBre Petition for Breonna Taylor.
       • Text “Floyd” to 551-56. Color of Change will text you back with a link to sign their petition for justice for George Floyd, or simply sign the petition here. Color of Change also has a petition for Breonna Taylor.
       • Change.org has many petitions including, Raise the Degree, Justice for George Floyd, and Disbarment of George E. Barnhill, a prosecutor on the Ahmaud Arbery case.
       • Black Lives Matter lists additional petitions to sign.
7. Support black owned  businesses, creatives, advocates, etc and follow them on social media to diversify the content you consume.
   • • • @killermike
       • @rachel.cargle⁠
       • @ihartericka⁠
       • @nowhitesaviors⁠
       • @iamrachelricketts⁠
       • @mspackyetti⁠
       • @ckyourprivilege⁠
       • @austinchanning⁠
       • @moemotivate⁠
       • @thegreatunlearn⁠
8. Educate your children.
   • • Read Children’s books with black protagonists and messages of anti-racism.
     • Choose toys and figurines that are BIPOC and use flashcards that teach your child about Black History.
9. Educate yourself!
   •  Watch:
     • • 13th (Ava DuVernay) — NetfliAmerican Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
       • The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Hulu with Cinemax
       • Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent for free in June in the U.S.
       • Roots – Watch on Hulu
       • 12 Years A Slave – Available to rent
       • Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
       • Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent
   •  Read:
     • • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
       • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
       • Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
       • The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century
       • Caught : The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics by Marie Gottschalk
       • White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD – I have heard this is the book to read if you do not know where to start or which to choose.
       • How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
       • The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
   • Listen
     • • Let’s Talk About Race
       • 1619 (New York Times)
       • Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
       • Seeing White
       • Integrated Schools podcast episode “Raising White Kids with Jennifer Harvey”
       • Parenting Forward podcast episode ‘Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt’
10. Pay attention to how your child’s school is teaching slavery, the Civil War and the Jim Crow Era and stand up to your school and teachers if there is limited, incorrect or biased information.
11. Arrange for cultural student exchanges in your child’s school and participate in them.
12. Encourage the black community and people in your life to respond to the US Census Bureau. Make your place in our world KNOWN.
13. VOTE. According to the US Census Bureau, the black voter turnout rate declined for the first time in 20 years in a presidential election, falling to 59.6% in 2016 after reaching a record-high 66.6% in 2012. Here’s how:
    • • Rock The Vote
      • I Am A Voter
      • ARIZONA: THE NEXT ELECTION IS ON AUGUST 4TH. UPDATE YOUR INFO OR REGISTER HERE.