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In Solidarity with BLM

Updated: Jun 29, 2020

Although we are a sustainability blog, we feel it is important to use our platform to spread awareness and share powerful information. Following the unjust and inhumane treatment of People of Color at the hands of police brutality, we want to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement by amplifying Black voices and providing resources of ways that individuals (especially those of us who are white) can educate ourselves and contribute.


While we cannot speak from personal experience on these topics, we are allies of the BLM movement and want to amplify Black voices and share resources.


"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." ~ Nelson Mandela


 

Here are some statistics and information about institutionalized racism in the US:


Police Brutality

  1. Black people made up 13% of the US population, but are 24% of people shot and killed by police

  2. Black people are 2.5x more likely than white people to be shot and killed by police



Institutionalized Racism in the US

Education System

  1. Decades after Brown v Board of Education, our schools system remains largely segregated

  2. Schools attended by predominantly POC are underfunded

  3. In college, black student take on more debt

Employment

  1. Black college graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed than their white counterparts

  2. Studies have revealed bias against black-sounding names on Resumes

  1. Black individuals are incarcerated at 5x the rate of whites

  2. In 2014, black individuals constituted 2.3 million, or 34%, of the prison population

  3. Black individuals are 6x more likely to be incarcerated for drug usage than their white counterparts, despite using drugs at similar rates. For example, while weed usage is similar, Black individuals are 3.73x as likely to be arrested for weed possession as compared to white individuals.

Funding

  1. The US spends over $100 billion on policing and $80 billion on incarceration

  2. It would cost ~$20 billion to eliminate homelessness in the US

  3. It would cost ~$34 billion to ensure free college for every American

Source: @monachalabi



Race and COVID-19

The CDC reports that:

  • Current data suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups

  • Members of racial and ethnic minorities may be more likely to live in densely populated areas because of institutional racism in the form of residential housing segregation, which makes it harder to practice social distancing

  • Racial residential housing segregation is linked to underlying health conditions which can make it more difficult to avoid contracting the virus

  • Racial minorities are overrepresented in the prisons and detention centers, congregate living makes social distancing impossible

  • Workers without paid sick leave are more likely to work when they are sick as they need the income

 

Eco-Focused women of color bloggers/Influencers to follow: (source: MelaninASS)


What you can do

  1. March

  2. Donate

  3. Sign Petitions

  4. Educate Yourself

  5. Support Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs


Organizations to Donate To


Petitions to Sign


Texts to Send

Justice for Breonna Taylor

  • “ENOUGH” to 55156

Sign the “Ending Qualified Immunity Act”

  • “SIGN SEUDKP” to 50409

Sign Repeal 50-a (a law that allows NYPD to hide misconduct records)

  • “SIGN RISTUS” to 50409

 

Educate Yourself By Consuming Anti-Racist Media

Documentaries:

  • The 13th

  • When They See Us

  • The Skin We’re In


Podcasts:

  • The 1619 Project

  • Intersectionality Matters

  • Code Switch


Movies:

  • Do the Right Thing

  • Moonlight

  • LA 92

  • The Hate U Give

  • Just Mercy


Books

Nonfiction

  • How to Be Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi

  • A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn

  • Why I am No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge

  • So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo

  • The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X

  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander

Fiction

  • Beloved & The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

  • Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

  • The Warmth of Other Sons, Isabel Wilkerson


TV Shows:

  • All American

  • Dear White People

*plus many more


 

FINIMPACT additional resources:

#BlackLivesMatter is affecting the world in a profound way, bringing the plight of African Americans into the limelight. Its effects are far-reaching, and it is occurring in tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic to make it even more difficult to run a successful business. This page provides information about the implications and demonstrate how to help Black-owned businesses out amidst the current situation, as a show of support and solidarity.

 

The bottom line: Black Lives Matter.

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