11 Things You Can Do Besides Sharing Links In Face Of Police Aggression
Let’s face it: We’ve become depressingly rote in our response to police violence against the Black community. We say how outraged we are on Instagram. We share a link on Facebook and declare that #BlackLivesMatter in the status. Wash, rinse, repeat.
There’s not much value in deriding “slacktivists” or debating what true allyship means. There’s no denying that posting is important. Bringing awareness to issues your friends and families may be closed off to and sharing anti-racist organizations to donate to is very necessary.
But if we’re going to share the burden of this fight and change the status quo, we can’t stop there.
Below, Black community activists and their allies share how to turn your empathy into action in the wake of police brutality.
Don’t think you need to be the perfect ally to speak up.
Oftentimes, the desire to be a “perfect” ally stops people from speaking up and taking action. Sometimes, we say nothing at all, not wanting to rock the boat or be judged as “too political” on social media. This silence is part of white supremacy culture. (For what it’s worth, speaking up against human rights violations is about as low-risk as you can get if you’re worried about appearing “political.”)
Don’t let concerns like this prevent you from showing up. Now more than ever is the time to take action to support Black, Indigenous and other people of colour ― even if you’ve been slow to get involved in the past.
“There’s no such thing as a perfect ally,” said Fizz Perkal, an organizer with the Albuquerque chapter of Showing Up For Justice. “When it comes to challenging police violence ... the goal is to listen to Black folks, follow their lead, and be accountable for how our behaviour impacts them.”
Start by observing what Black organizations are doing, and take your cues from them.
“Be accountable to them and know how to best support their organizing,” Perkal said. His group, for example, is a non-profit that...