11 Things You Can Do to Show That Black Lives Matter

Embroidery by Alyson Toone

This blog is my platform for connecting feminine craft and art to STEM. As a black woman, my heart is too heavy to focus on my mission addressing gender equality. My experience is interdisciplinary and intersectional as a black woman who loves creating and is interested in STEM. The events of the last week have affected me deeply. Non-black people have expressed that they want to help. I am sharing my non-donation ideas for helping black Americans. If you can donate, please do.

I started 2020 planning for pregnancy. I was already facing the news that pregnant black women’s lives matter the least in our healthcare system. Once my children come into the world, they will have to face an education system that doesn’t reflect them and punishes black children at higher rates. And a system that creates prison cells based on the numbers of “problematic” children (mostly POC) in our schools. And that my kids may one day have an incident with police that ends their life. Treyvon and Tamir’s innocent faces haunt me. Or even ends up with them wrongly convicted. The Central Park Five story also haunts me. 

To non-black allies looking for ways to help...it’s not just about giving money. You can personally even out the scales of injustice. Here is what you can do:

1

VOTE. Vote in county, state, and city elections. Educate yourself on sheriffs, judges, district attorneys, etc for your locality. Watch Ava DuVernay’s “13th.” (Also watch DuVernay’s “When They See Us.”) These people affect the justice system more than who is in the White House.

2

Teach your children about race and race relations. Especially white people. Differences aren’t a bad thing. They make us who we are. There are plenty of resources to consult. 

3

Support Black Business and black colleagues. Contrary to conservative beliefs, we don’t want handouts. Plenty of black people have businesses but don’t have the network aka money to tap into to make their businesses successful. You can help. Extend your network to black colleagues and friends, to connect them to jobs. Honestly, this is incredibly important to equal opportunity. I know, because I’ve experienced not having a network that could lead to success. And so have many other BIPOC. If your office workplace doesn’t at least represent your city, then your network needs to be more inclusive. If you need to hire a creative, here’s a site to find creatives of color and here’s one for black creatives. I know you’ll see that talent isn’t limited by race.

4

Learn about redlining and gentrification, and how it affected your life. This will show that YOU ARE in a current racist system. You may have even benefited from good credit and housing loans. Like having your school loans paid for because your parents were able to mortgage their house. What if you had to start your career $60k+ in debt? (I recognize that there are plenty of white people in student debt too). When you go to buy a house are you thinking about what coffee shops are in the neighborhood or who you are displacing? Are you supporting POC owned businesses in that area? When you choose schools for your children are you aware that several middle-class white families in one inner-city school might bring resources to the school? Bring that “Karen charm” to fight for resources for POCs rather than keeping those resources in white communities. The resources follow you.

5

Think differently about black people. Stop thinking of black people as poor, on welfare, sad disenfranchised people. We are FUCKING AMAZING! We are talented, capable people. I’m an NPR fan but even they contribute to the narrative that we are destined to be lowest on the totem pole. There are so many educated black people out there. I’m one of them. Like white people, black people are individuals with individual personalities. Don’t judge me by stereotypes. If you think you can’t find black people who will fit in your network, ask yourself some questions. Are you assuming what those black people’s interests are? Remember that Christian Cooper is a Harvard educated bird watcher. Stereotypes and assumptions lead to death for black people. Don’t be complicit in this.

6

Be an unbiased healthcare worker. COVID-19 has spotlighted that black and brown people are vulnerable in this pandemic. Underlying conditions are a big reason. Healthcare as a commodity undervalues people with low incomes which also are disproportionately BIPOC. Physical, dental, and mental healthcare should be a RIGHT in the United States. The way black people are perceived in the healthcare system (having more tolerance to pain) is bias. If you work in healthcare, check yourself when black patients tell you something wrong. Are you ignoring the symptoms that they tell you about? Do you check your colleagues' bias in treating patients?

7

Be an unbiased teacher. Teachers make huge impacts on children and how they perceive themselves. Do you tend to see the black boys as "making trouble"? People act in the way they are perceived. Do you ignore the quiet black girls in your classroom ( I experienced that)? Are you preferencing children who look like they could be your own? Children see that and internalize it. How do the students in your classroom treat each other? The kids they pick on could reflect the kids you pick on. Do you assume that black children "need a little more help" than everyone else? If you are complicit in these actions, then you may be contributing to children growing up to enter into the justice system. 

8

Be self-aware. This is for non-Jewish white people because BIPOC and Jews know that we are perceived by our race and ethnicity when we go anywhere in this country. Self-awareness means understanding what whiteness is. It not the job of someone from a different race or ethnicity to tell you that. Understand that you were born to play a role in our racist society. 

9

See black children and teens as children. George Zimmerman was twice the size of Treyvon Martin and driving in a car. Black boys get longer sentences and get sent to adult prisons because they are perceived as men. Black girls have a history of being seen as sexually advanced. Black bodies may develop faster, but they are just like other children their age. I grew up being a part of groups of loud, black teens. That is a part of the black American cultural experience and not something to be feared. 

10

Understand that racism and discrimination are not that same. If someone says that you are in a racist system, that doesn't mean that you call people the "n-word." Racism is about who holds the power. Amy Cooper took part in a racist system because she knows her power as a white woman. If she called Christian Cooper, an “n-word” then she would have made a discriminatory statement. All people can be prejudiced. However, since white people hold significantly more wealth than POC, only white people can be racist. That wealth means that political, government, and financial systems work for white people.

11

Listen to black people. And don't make it about you and your feelings. If you’ve looked at the links I shared, you will notice that I used a lot of white (often male) voices to discuss race. If you don’t believe me, then hopefully you’ll believe them. If that made you feel more comfortable, then you have a lot of learning and listening to do.

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