Black Lives Matter, Where To Donate
Minneapolis, and the country, has reached a breaking point, but what happens when a country, city and people continue to reach a breaking point year in and year out for decades and centuries? One cannot possibly support general city destruction, especially when locally owned stores burn to the ground — though there’s plenty of evidence that indicates White Supremacists have mostly been behind it — but nevertheless, destroyed property can be rebuilt, but black men, women and children executed at the hands of enraged and racist white police officers cannot be resurrected.
Particular hateful law enforcement organizations, including the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, where Union Leader Bob Kroll allegedly wore a “White Power” patch to the Trump rally back in October — and the kind of people who support them — find peaceful protesting and the simple, yet powerful act of taking a knee at a Football game too extreme and offensive already, but the murder of Black Americans is seen as business as usual and justified self-defense.
Minnesota is generally viewed as a perfectly safe and liberal state, but as of January 2019 Minnesota ranks 45th out of 51 states (list includes the District of Columbia) when it comes to racial integration, making it one of the most segregated states in the country. Additionally, NBC News recently reported that Minneapolis police rendered 44 people unconscious with neck restraints in five years. Several police experts said that number appears to be unusually high. “By using this tactic, it’s a self-fulfilling tragedy,” said one.
As the article continues:
Police define neck restraints as when an officer uses an arm or leg to compress someone’s neck without directly pressuring the airway. On May 25, Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was captured on video kneeling on the neck of a prone and handcuffed George Floyd for eight minutes — including nearly three minutes after he had stopped breathing.
More than a dozen police officials and law enforcement experts told NBC News that the particular tactic Chauvin used — kneeling on a suspect’s neck — is neither taught nor sanctioned by any police agency. A Minneapolis city official told NBC News Chauvin’s tactic is not permitted by the Minneapolis police department. For most major police departments, variations of neck restraints, known as chokeholds, are highly restricted — if not banned outright.
On top of that, Minneapolis Police Department kills Black Minnesotans at a rate 13x that of White Minnesotans. This is a grim picture of a city and state we know and love, but it’s a reality that can’t be ignored.
Will the events that have been unfolding over the last week — hell, the last 400 years — send a clear message once and for all? I want to think yes, but considering the message has continuously gone ignored, I have little hope at this moment in time. I hope that changes. It needs to change. Many will say the criminal justice system is broken, but one can argue the system isn’t “broken”, but is in fact working the way it was designed to: oppress people of color.
Black Lives Matter.
For the record, saying “All Lives Matter” as a response to “Black Lives Matter” is like saying the fire department should spray down all houses in a neighborhood even though only one house is on fire, because all houses matter. Yes, your house matters too, but your house is not on fire. Saying “All Lives Matter” as a response to “Black Lives Matter” is like screaming “Colon Cancer Matters” at a Breast Cancer benefit. Of course it matters, but we’re here to benefit Breast Cancer.
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If you have the means, there are a number of organizations that need donations, including but not limited to what you see here:
Black Visions Collective — seeks to expand the power of Black people across the Twin Cities metro area and Minnesota. https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/
Black Table Arts — Gathering Black communities through the arts, towards better black futures. http://www.blacktablearts.com/
Pimento Relief Fund — providing black business with insurance relief after white supremacists set them on fire during the protests. https://abepmpls.org/pimento-relief-fund
Reclaim The Block — organizes Minneapolis community and city council members to move money from the police department into other areas of the city’s budget that truly promote community health and safety. https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/
Isuroon.org — Isuroon is a grassroots nonprofit organization working to promote the well-being and empowerment of Somali women in Minnesota and beyond. https://www.isuroon.org/donate-to-isuroon/
Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) — the overriding goal is to create a climate of resistance to the abuse of authority by police organizations and to empower local people with a structure that can take on police brutality and actually bring it to an end. https://www.cuapb.org/
The Bail Project — national nonprofit organization that pays bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence. https://bailproject.org/
MIGIZI — a circle of support that nurtures the development of Native American youth in order to unleash their creativity and dreams — to benefit themselves, their families and community. https://www.migizi.org/
Color Of Change — the nation’s largest online racial justice organization that helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. https://colorofchange.org/
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund — the country’s top legal firm fighting for racial justice. https://www.naacpldf.org/
Please donate what you can.
