How to support the Black lives matter movement
Black Lives Matter. If you are currently reading this, you might know this and if not, you
should keep reading.
Why do Black lives matter?
For centuries the black skin has been murdered, raped, and discriminated against. The
black skin, the black experience is hard yet soft. We are delicate and fierce. We break
through barriers to be on the same level socially and economically. We work hard yet
the world sees us as “complaining” We are tired. I am tired every day.
Experiencing microaggressions and experiencing modern-day slavery working at white-
owned companies. From an outside point of view, It cannot be more transparent than it
is now. We are hurting and fighting. We fight for justice and equality until death. This
movement is the tipping point. We are not civil rights leaders in the 60s. This is modern-
day and my generation is tired of the injustice that’s been going on for centuries.
We wake up and yet another black person is killed by the police or by hate groups. We
cannot run, go to the store, sleep at home, or go to a park without being murdered.
My people will not ask for justice not anymore, we demand it done.
Black lives matter is a movement that was created by black women to dismantle the
system that allows police brutality and racial profiling against black people and other
people of color. The organization was founded in 2013 after Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-
year-old shot and killed by a police officer. If black lives don’t matter, then all lives
cannot matter.
How to support BLM
So, what can we do to help? Signing petitions, donating money to organizations such as
Black Lives Matter and Equal Justice Initiative, Donating to help protestors such as a
“bail fund”, which volunteers raise money to free people on bail. This helps a lot for
protestors who are wrongfully incarcerated.
Supporting Black-owned businesses helps for a few other reasons. It helps close the
racial wealth gap that can be traced from the Jim Crow era. This gap started because of
racial discrimination in the workplace and redlining. Supporting a black-owned business
can also help strengthen your community. When local communities have small
businesses that grow, the community will most likely do so.
If you are feeling helpless at this time, doing those things above and sharing information
around social media can help others have a better understanding of what is truly going
on. For people not of color, being an ally is the first step. This means you educate
yourself and help fight for justice even though your life isn’t being targeted and sharing
information with your friends and family.
Here’s links to read more information and petitions.
Justice for George Floyd
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd
Justice for Breonna
https://www.standwithbre.com/#petition
Black Lives Matter
https://blacklivesmatter.com/petitions/
Justice for Alejandro Vargas Martinez
https://www.change.org/p/florida-police-department-justice-for-alejandro-vargas-martinez
Blog Post Written by: Chrissy PonDexter—Blogger for To The Bone
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