What Can I Do?

I am beyond fed up with black people being murdered with no justice served and especially feeling just utterly helpless in making any difference. So I took to my search engine and Googled "what can white people do" and found some helpful info. Here's some of what was posted on Paper's site. I'm reposting it below:

Make calls and write letters directly to District Attorney Mike Freeman and Mayor Jacob Frey.
Applying pressure through every channel is crucial. Call DA Freeman at (612-348-5550) and write Mayor Frey here to demand the arrests and charging of the police officers. The petition can double as a script.

Donate directly to George Floyd's family.There are multiple fundraisers being held for George Floyd's family. His brother Philonise Floyd has organized a fund to cover funeral and burial expenses, and to support Floyd's family as they continue to seek justice: donate here. His sister Bridgett Floyd is raising money to help support George's daughter Gianna: donate here. 

Bail out protesters who are being arrested for demanding justice.
The Minnesota Freedom Fund is a local organization that pays criminal bail and immigration bonds for those who cannot afford them. They've been providing protester bail support to those arrested in the demonstrations demanding justice for Floyd. Donate here. The MFF is also encouraging donations to Black Visions Collective' Movement and Legal Fund, a Black, trans, and queer led organization based in Minnesota supporting the protests; Reclaim the Block, a Minnesota org that lobbies for defunding the police and re-routing funds to affordable housing, health, violence prevention, civil right and renter protections; and Unicorn Riot, a non-profit media organization dedicated to fair, on-the-ground reporting on civil disobedience, police brutality and white supremacy. 

More info to check out: 
• Marina forwarded a relevant article on Medium: 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corrine Shutack - note that even though it was first published in 2017, the site clearly states:  **Note this article is continually updated to ensure each item is accurate and needed today.** This article is chock full of fantastic leads and opens my eyes to things I hadn't thought of, such as Banking black. There's also lots of "write to your" suggestions, which is tedious, but since I am not into marches and protests, I can definitely put pen to paper.
#58 was particularly helpful: When people say that Black Lives Matter is a violent/terrorist group, explain to them that there are fringe groups that are being misrepresented as part of BLM. If conservatives don’t want to be lumped in with the KKK, they can’t lump violent protesters in with BLM.
• Mapping Police Violence is frighteningly informative.
• More on what whites can do can be found here by Roy S. Johnson.
Race discussions, from my white girl perspective, are awkward. In every day life I always feel like I have to go out of my way and be overly nice to black people as if to prove that I'm an ally. Usually this makes me look like a suck-up weirdo. I don't act like this to any other race - with Indians or Asians I'm just me. Reading Roy S. Johnson's article and reaching the point where he says "How can I help? What can I do? Black folks, by the way, know what to do...Whites? The ones ready to battle beside us—like some of your parents, greats, and greats before them? I got you." made me feel an instant sense of calm. I'm not the bad guy and I don't want to be lumped in with all those hateful white pricks and reading "I got you" made me realise that being perceived as the bad guy is all in my head and I can let go of the need to prove something that doesn't need to be proved.
• How White People Can Be Better Allies to the Black Community
• Guideline for Being Strong White Allies
• And of course please visit Black Lives Matter.
• The Guardian's The Counted (note that this counts all people killed by police, regardless of race)
• Oprah's site also has some thoughts on How to Help
• This article from The Independent said this to whites: It’s crucial that you move from “not racist” to becoming an antiracist. This begins with acknowledging that growing up in a racist society means you have taken in those ideas and that they have shaped your thoughts, feelings and actions. This doesn’t make you a bad person. After you’ve accepted that, make a commitment to fighting for racial equity and move to action by challenging racist words and actions from people you know, donating money to civil rights organizations...

In closing, I want things to change in my country and if that means having uncomfortable conversations or confrontations, donating money to important causes, speaking up and speaking out, I am going to do it.

 

(photo kidnapped from npr - The rate at which black Americans are killed by police is more than twice as high as the rate for white Americans. This is a non-comprehensive list of deaths at the hands of police in the U.S. since Eric Garner's death in July, 2014. LA Johnson/NPR)