Black Lives Matter: Educational Resources and How to Support

Published June 04, 2020.

The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, David McAtee and countless other victims at the hands of the United States police have illuminated the effects of institutionalized racism around the world. Efforts of protestors to combat these issues by exercising their right to public assembly have been met with harsh, and often violent opposition. This is not a sudden, modern issue; it is the result of a history of militancy against Black people that needs to be directly addressed and changed.

At Electronic Beats, we stand with the Black community, and we’re committed to educating ourselves and others about the injustices facing Black people today. Below, we’ve created a living document of resources, including organizations our readers can support and donate to alongside articles, books, and guides that have impacted us. We urge everyone to read, listen, educate themselves, attend official public protests, and contribute in any way they can to support the Black community in this time.

To start, look into these two guides to anti racism resources, here and here. And for those who want to show support on social media, we this guide can be a useful resource before posting.

Causes to support / donate to

Black Lives Matter

Official George Floyd Memorial Fund

Black Visions Collective

Movement for Black Lives is an organization pushing to stop the spread of COVID-19 in at-risk areas. Their initiative is to call on congress to prioritize the safety of communities over corporations and to “push back against the use of militarization in our communities as a response to this crisis.”

Campaign Zero is pushing for legislative change to policing policies on the state level. Some of their goals are to end for-profit policing, limit the use of force, and the individual prosecution of officers who have committed crimes.

Sign petitions

Demand Justice for Breonna Taylor via Change.org, MoveOn and the Petition Site.

Defund the police force in the US

View this post on Instagram

How do you want *your* money to be spent? a) spend it on police officers that continually abuse their positions and threaten public safety or b) spend it on welfare programs that have been systematically reduced I chose buses here because the amounts were so close but, you know, pick your thing! Want free school meals for every elementary school kid in New York? Cool, that only costs $39 million so you’ve got lots left over. Care about homelessness? Great, you could house 3,281 people for an entire year for this amount. You get the idea. As for the second image, at the protest last night, we chanted 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘢𝘳? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. The UK sells riot guns, teargas and riot shields to the US so we’re also deeply complicit in the violence that these officers inflict. Image 1 sources: New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report Fiscal Year 2018 + New York City Comptroller, Financial Outlook for the MTA, 2018 Image 2 sources: The Society for Healthcare Organization Procurement Professionals, April 2020 (this was a report about how prices have risen exponentially due to COVID-19 - these are the prices *after* those rises). Police equipment prices were hard to find. I found a public document where companies bid to provide riot gear for Columbus, Georgia police force in 2017 and used the averages of those bids except for the gloves where I averaged 3 online product listings. Will provide links in stories to all of this. I don't normally use hashtags but I want these images to end up in front of some police officers themselves so excuse me while I fuck with the algorithm a bit. #backtheblue #policelife #kag #kag2020 #lawenforcementfamily #policedepartment #blacklivesmatter #defundthepolice

A post shared by Mona Chalabi (@monachalabi) on Jun 4, 2020 at 6:42am PDT

Bail funds

Prohibitive bail charges are an essential component of institutional racism & the extreme inequality in the US penal system. If you are financially secure, please consider donating to show solidarity, at a time when people are detained for peacefully demonstrating against police racism & brutality, in the memory of George Floyd, and for all unarmed people killed by the police. You can split a donation between 60+ bail funds across the US and read about the separate missions of each

Many cities across the US are spending more on policing than on departments such as the Departments of Health, Homeless Services, Housing Preservation and Development, and Youth and Community Development combined. This petition by Black Lives Matter calls for a national defunding of the police, demanding for investments to be made in the community and “the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive”.

Read Black Authors

How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change, Barack Obama

Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coats

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge

The American Nightmare, Ibram X. Kendi (The Atlantic)

Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, NAACP for further

Consider the Black cultural origins of dance music

Rediscover Techno’s Black American Roots With This Fascinating Video Documentary

‘Give It Up For DJ Blackface!’, Code Switch Podcast (NPR)

‘Make techno black again’: a social experiment subverts whitewashing in clubs

How Underground Resistance Became the Public Enemy of Techno

A Brief History of Voguing, Smithsonian

Paris Is Burning, 1990

Buy Black artists’ music on Bandcamp

A group of anonymous data volunteers have created a list of 500+ Black producers, artists and labels to support on Bandcamp Day. The list can be found here. All suggestions and edits are welcome via an e-mail to collectivedatavol@gmail.com

International Resources

A collection of 135 resources for Education, Professional & Community Development, Health, and Civil Rights that promote racial equity in a variety of important ways.

European anti-racist resources

European Network Against Racism is a pan-European anti-racism network that advocacates for racial equality and facilitates cooperation among civil society anti-racism actors in Europe.

UK

Write to your local MP to put pressure on the government to stop providing tear gas to the US using this letter template.

Write to your representatives easily and for free by using Write to Them

German Resources

Anti-black racism is also prevalent in Germany, especially aimed towards the refugee community. If you are looking for places to support Black Lives Matter’s mission in Germany, consider donating to support Women in Exile in doing vital work to support refugee women in Germany. Kampagne für Opfer rassistischer Polizeigewalt (KOP)

Campaign For Victims of Racist Police Violence (KOP)