Black Lives Matter: Resources for supporting the protests

Unfortunately, while the pandemic has disrupted all of our lives in countless ways, it hasn’t put a stop to (or even slowed down) injustice in our country, as we’ve all been recently reminded with the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans.

We at FTH have put together some resources for those who want to help out, whether by joining the protests or supporting the protestors. Stay safe, stay loud. Black Lives Matter.

If you’re protesting:

Two articles on protesting as safely as possible under pandemic conditions: from VICE and from Buzzfeed News.

Here is an article on how to prepare for and protect yourself against tear gas.

And in case you wind up in a situation where it seems necessary or useful to record the police, Teen Vogue recently posted a great piece on how to take such videos as safely and effectively as possible.

If you want to show up in person but aren’t sure you feel comfortable marching, you can also provide on-the-ground support by working at and/or supplying a mutual aid station. SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) is running mutual aid stations to support protestors in several cities. You can read about SURJ here and find out more about your local chapter.

If you want to donate:

One of the best ways to support from home is to donate to a bail fund to get arrested protestors out of jail. This is always vital during any mass protest, but is particularly urgent now because COVID spreads so much more easily in indoor spaces, especially crowded ones.

You can find a directory of local bail funds here. This is a great way to have a lasting impact, because bail funds “recycle” donation money as much as possible; although state bail laws vary, most or all bail money is returned once the defendants show up for their court dates, and that money becomes available to free someone else.

You can find a list with organizations that are supporting the protests here (from Paper Mag) and here (from GQ) which are mostly focused on the Twin Cities.

If you’re in a city or state with active protests and you know of a local group that is helping the protestors, we encourage you to reblog with the name and links. Your FTH organizers in Chicago want to suggest the Chicago Freedom School, an organization that builds youth-led social organizing and which has been providing food to protestors, and offered shelter after the sudden imposition of the citywide curfew last night (at which point all the roads and public transit were shut down, stranding protestors.) You can donate to CFS here.

If you want to offer non-monetary support from home:

If you can’t donate (or if you have donated and want to help in other ways too) there are lots of ways to help.

One great thing to do is to call your local police stations (either in-city or in-state) and demand that arrested protestors be released. Before you do this, it’s a good idea to read local news about the number of arrests that have been made, and to find out (if possible) where specifically those arrested protestors have been taken.

You can find further suggestions for things to do from home in these resources guides, one by blacklivesmatter and one from a collective of NYC-based community activists.

Finally: there is a ton of information flying around, and a lot of it is unreliable.

Buzzfeed News is keeping a running list of misinformation and hoaxes about the protests. The article has been updated several times since posting, but you can also follow the reporters on twitter for even more rapid updates.

kyleauxren is also maintaining a (partially-crowdsourced) twitter thread on hoaxes and misinformation. There is some overlap with Buzzfeed’s list, but also some things they missed.

Both lists include spoof versions of some of the highest-profile justice organizations and bail funds, as well as “protests” being organized by white nationalist organizations and sympathizers in order to undermine and discredit the BLM movement. Whether you are donating or planning to attend a protest, make sure to do some research before committing yourself or your resources. The examples in these threads can help you develop a sense of what to look for.