RESOURCES | Black Lives Matter WV

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Q&A guide and talking points

Who Funds BLMWV?

BLMWV is funded by people like you. All our support comes from individual donations, small businesses, and a very small amount comes from the sale of merchandise such as masks, tshirts, and other small items. We also take donations from individuals of PPE to be distributed to protesters and those disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are NOT funded by politicians or big businesses. We are not funded by the national foundation and therefore we spend all of our money right here in West Virginia. We do not donate to political candidates. Donations can also be mailed to P.O. Box 579, Institute, WV 25112

Donate Now!

What About Black on Black Crime?

Let's talk about “black on black crime.” First it's not a real thing, and here's why. You’ve probably heard a statistic like this before – The majority of black people murdered are killed by other black people. That’s true, but also misleading. The overwhelming majority of white murder victims each year are killed by white assailants. So, when’s the last time you heard the term “white on white crime?”. People generally commit crimes against people they know or live near. I know... SHOCKER. Black people tend to live near each other, and the same thing can be said for every other racial demographic in the country. In reality, crime is directly linked more to poverty than race or any other factor.

According to the Bureau for Justice Statistics, People living in households with income below the federal poverty threshold are twice as likely to commit a violent crime than people in high-income households, regardless of race.

We live in a country where the poverty rate is more than twice as high among black Americans than white. And that has as much to do with 400 years of systemic racism than anything else.

Weren't the Irish Were Slaves Too

One of the most commonly repeated fallacies. The claim that Irish people were enslaved in the British American Colonies stems from a misrepresentation of the idea of “indentured servitude.” Indentured servants were people required to complete unpaid labor for a contracted period.

Crucially, indentured servants were considered human beings under the law. African slaves were seen as property rather than people; Africans were racialized as Black to cement this enslaved status as permanent, inheritable, and justifiable in the natural order. "An indenture implies two people have entered into a contract with each other but slavery is not a contract," Leslie Harris, professor of history at Northwestern University. While the majority of Irish people who became indentured servants in the Colonies did so willingly (some did it to secure passage to America, or to pay off a debt), a not insignificant number were forcibly deported and sold into indentured servitude. the term of which was usually 7 years, whereas slavery had no end.

What About Reverse Racism

REVERSE RACISM ISNT REAL. In order to understand this we need to define a couple terms.

1. Bias: Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. In other words, every human develops bias. That's right all of us. It is a natural thing that happens to all of us just by living life. What we see, hear, or experience in everyday life shapes our preconceived and many times subconscious idea of people. Once we recognize this we must all work to fix this in ourselves.

2. Discrimination: Racial discrimination is any discrimination against individuals on the basis of their skin color, or racial or ethnic origin. Discrimination is when we take those biases and act upon them. Anyone of any race or ethnic background can be discriminatory. Little known fact-- a person can be discriminatory against their own ethnicity or race.

Racism: racism = discrimination + Power. Racism incorporates the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another. Racial prejudice can indeed be directed at white people (e.g., white people can’t dance) but is not considered racism because of the systemic relationship of power.  When backed with power, prejudice results in acts of discrimination and oppression against groups or individuals. While expressions of racial prejudice directed at white people may hurt the white person/people individually or personally, and are never to be condoned, they do not have the power or authority to affect the white person's social/economic/political location and privileges.

What is "Defund the Police"?

Most people unfamiliar think that Defund the Police means to abolish the police. This is not what it means. When we talk about defunding the police, we’re talking about making a major pivot in national priorities. We need to see a shift from massive spending on police that don’t keep us safe to a massive investment in a shared vision of community safety that actually works. We know this won’t happen overnight. We’re tired of quick fixes and piecemeal reforms. Ending police violence will require a thoughtful, deliberate, and participatory approach that has already begun.

It has been proven that spending more money on police does not automatically lead to less violent crime. It does, however lead to greater instances of police violence, especially towards marginalized populations. Police often do not solve or prevent criminal activity, instead they often escalate situations and their interactions are more likely to result in death for BIPOC as opposed to their white counterparts.

Defunding the Police has already been put into practice in other cities with proven results. Cities spend an exorbitant amount of their budget on police. Quite a bit of that even pays for payouts to the victims of police brutality. By taking some of that budget away from police and rerouting it to health and human resources, the community is better served with resources that do not always require police presence. For example, in one city, 911 calls are routed to either police, fire, ambulance services, or mental health services as needed. Not all calls require police presence, however, currently police are expected to not only police, but also do the jobs of medics, fire departments, mental health professionals, and health and human services professionals. This would get the community the services they need, and free up police officers to do their actual job which is protecting and serving.

Is Black Lives Matter Violent?

Black Lives Matter believes in non violence, and civil disobedience.

Civil Disobedience: The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest.

BLM is an organized movement in the United States advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality. We do not advocate destruction of property, looting, or violence. We do believe in the right to protect ourselves.

resources and recommended reading

Additional Information

Mental Health Resources

Therapy For Black Girls

So often the stigma surrounding mental health issues and therapy prevents Black women from taking the step of seeing a therapist. This space was developed to present mental health topics in a way that feels more accessible and relevant.

Our Mental Health Minute (via Dr. Riana Anderson U-M SPH, Thanks!)

Ri + CT discussed their dreams of bringing psychology content to the community in a fun and relevant way and created this fantastic platform for all to enjoy. With 2 seasons and over 25 episodes on mental health content, they hope to provide materials that are relatable, informative, and helpful in engaging Black people with mental health knowledge and treatment. Ri and CT are determined to make their content grow through videos, podcasts, and online engagement. Their work - both in research and through OurMHM - is for, of, and inspired by the people, and they take no greater pride than being servant leaders through this venture. Their vision is to:

1) Reduce stigma about mental health in the Black community

2) Provide resources in access, utilization, and quality of mental health care

3) Increase mental health literacy (in a fun and relevant way!)

Check out their latest video: Putting Our Necks on the Line: Breathing in the Midst of Racism !!

Open Path Collective

In partnership with licensed mental health clinicians in private practice throughout the fifty states, Open Path Psychotherapy Collective provides middle and lower-income level individuals, couples, families, and children with access to affordable psychotherapy and mental health education services.As long as there is a financial need, our lifetime membership will allow you to see anyone in our network for the rates listed above. This is our guarantee. A lifetime membership only costs $59.

Talkspace

Talkspace is an online and mobile therapy company based in New York City. It was founded by Oren and Roni Frank in 2012. Talkspace users have access to licensed therapists through the website or mobile app on iOS and Android.

*** Resources from U-M School of Social Work via Dr. Linda Chatters

20-minute guided meditations
Courses, drop-in meditations & resources offered by the Ann Arbor Center for Mindfulness:

Mindfulness in Uncertain Times

Tumultuous headlines, health, and financial insecurity, isolation, family tensions… all these can leave us feeling agitated, nervous, just not ourselves. This class will provide practical support for developing a daily meditation practice that’s appropriate for you (or fine-tuning it, if you have one already); cultivating basic mindfulness skills; and applying those skills in meeting life’s challenges, to respond wisely instead of reacting impulsively.

8 Sundays, May 31 – July 19
2:00-3:00pm, U.S. EDT.
Online via Zoom. Includes instruction, a guided practice exercise, and Q-and-A.
For ages 17 and up.
Fee: by donation

Instructor: Barbara Newell, JD, mindfulness, and meditation teacher. Barbara trained with Thich Nhat Hanh and works regularly with nationally-recognized teachers Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Click here to register

Saline, Ann Arbor, and Ypsilanti Drop-ins.

These are now combined... join whichever sessions are most convenient in a given week. Still led by AACFM Teachers and other colleagues in the Ann Arbor mindfulness meditation community, we're now online. No charge.

Tuesdays, 11-Noon,
Thursdays, 7:30-8:30 pm
Fridays, 11-noon, all EDT.

The above sessions are accessed by the same Zoom link and meeting ID. Click https://zoom.us/j/993192822 or call 646-558-8656 and enter Meeting ID: 993 192 822

Cancer Support Community Drop-In

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1–2 pm EDT
Ongoing

These free guided mindfulness meditations are available to anyone impacted by cancer. Beginners and experienced practitioners welcome. Visit www.cancersupportannarbor.org to get the Zoom link

Are you feeling a desire to deepen your practice and/or share with a grounded community about your experiences in quarantine? Then consider these options:

PRIVATE MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION SESSIONS with Barbara Newell, over phone and Zoom. For more information and to schedule a free initial consultation, please contact her directly barbara@barbaranewell.com. You can also check out her podcast here.
SHARE and CARE SESSIONS with Pam Schweitzer On Wednesdays, 6-7 pm EDT, the Share and Care group is offered to participants of the Ann Arbor, Saline and Ypsilanti drop-in meditations as an opportunity to discuss concerns and experiences associated with the pandemic since discussion is not part of the open meditations. It does not include meditation. Click https://zoom.us/j/993192822 or call 646 558 8656 and enter Meeting ID: 993 192 822

Resources for self and community care

Books:

1. RESTORATIVE YOGA FOR ETHNIC AND RACE-BASED STRESS AND TRAUMA by Dr. Parker

WWW.DRGAILPARKER.COM/

2. Healing Racial Trauma by Sheila Wise Rowe: The Road to Resilience

https://www.christianbook.com/apps/easyfind?Ntk=author&Ntt=Sheila%20Wise%20Rowe

Meditation Exercises:

1. Black Lives Matters Meditation for Healing Racial Trauma by Dr. Candice Nicole http://drcandicenicole.com/2016/07/black-lives-matter-meditation/

2. Soulfulness 4 Life: https://soulfulness4life.com/ uses a culturally congruent approach to mindfulness

Apps:

1. Liberate app: Liberate is the #1 meditation app for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community. Listen to dozens of guided meditations to ease anxiety, find gratitude, heal internalized racism and microaggressions and celebrate Blackness.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-founder-creates-meditation-app-for-people-of-color/

2. The Safe Place: a Minority Mental Health App geared towards the Black Community to bring awareness, education and hope.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-safe-place/id1349460763

Podcasts:

1. The Breakdown with Dr. Earl: A Mental Health Podcast

2. The Homecoming Podcast with Dr. Thema

3. The Sexually Liberated Woman with Ev’Yan Whitney

4. Kindred Medicine a sacred storytelling podcast with Dr. Shena

Music:

1. Songs Giving us (Much Needed) Life by Code Switch (NPR)

Anti-Racism Resources

** Provided by U-M SPH & SW professor Dr. Linda Chatters

Readings on trauma

On piece is on it sharing articles of videos that have images of the murder of either George Floyd or Ahmad Arbery, particularly as thumbnails. This is a trauma porn that focuses on the death of Black bodies (something we never see with white bodies). Here is an article that may be useful for non Black folks in how to not replicate trauma on social media while talking about this.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/28/george-floyd-ahmaud-arbery-covid-emotional-toll-hits-black-families/5270216002/

Allyship from the API Coalition in the U-M School of Social Work

API Coalition

Resources:

This document is intended to serve as a resource to white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now. Feel free to circulate this document on social media.

To take immediate action to fight for Breonna Taylor, please visit FightForBreonna.org.

Resources for white parents to raise anti-racist children:

Check out these books for children and young adults from the list of Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners
Listen to the Parenting Forward podcast episode ‘Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt’
Read PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month
Follow The Conscious Kid on Instagram

Articles to read:

“America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists
”My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)
The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine
“The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)
Tips for Creating Effective White Caucus Groups developed by Craig Elliott PhD
”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh
“Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)
“The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Atlantic (June 2014)
“How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change” by Barack Obama | Medium (June 1, 2020)
Report and toolkit linked in article
A Decade Of Watching Black People Die by NPR Codeswitch
“In 1919, the state failed to protect Black Americans. A century later, it’s still failing” by Dr. Carol Anderson | The Guardian (June 2020)

Videos to watch:

Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives: Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, Charlene Carruthers (50:48)
"How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion" | Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools (18:26)

Podcasts to subscribe to:

Books to read:

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga
When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Racial Trauma & PTSD Reading List by Monnica Williams, PhD (via Dr. Riana Anderson U-M SPH, Thanks!)
How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide, by Crystal Fleming, PhD
Stay Woke A People’s Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter, by Tehama Lopez Bunyasi and Candis Watts Smith
The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. Du Bois

Films and TV series to watch:

13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
Just Mercy - MOST PLATFORMS (Warner Brothers has made this free to rent throughout June in response to the protest and injustice | Linked is Amazon however it is free and available on other platforms)
American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 — Available to rent
Good Trouble- Hulu
Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) — Available to rent
Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent
I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent or on Kanopy
If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent
King In The Wilderness — HBO
See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — Available to rent
The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Hulu with Cinemax
When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
http://www.arraynow.com - Ava Duvernay created an interactive reflection tool for people to use as they watch When They See Us. They're hoping it will deepen the conversation and inspire action (Thanks Ifunanya!)

Organizations to follow on social media:

Antiracism Center: Twitter
Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Families Belong Together: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
MPowerChange: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Michigan Liberation: Twitter | Facebook
Muslim Girl: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
NAACP: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
RAICES: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
SisterSong: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
United We Dream: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

More anti-racism resources to check out:

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
Anti-Racism Project
Jenna Arnold’s resources (books and people to follow)
Rachel Ricketts’ anti-racism resources
Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism
Showing Up For Racial Justice’s educational toolkits
“Why is this happening?” — an introduction to police brutality from 100 Year Hoodie
Zinn Education Project’s teaching materials
Document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020.

Q&A guide, Resources & links