5 Things Friday
What You Can Do RIGHT NOW. Here are your antiracism action steps for August 27.
We had just wrapped up writing the below 5 Things, then an alert popped up informing us of the horrific bombings outside the Kabul airport. While it seems a world away and a drop in the bucket when so many are dying and living in fear, we wanted to re-share this helpful list from last week on how Bay Area residents can help Afghan refugees. As we always say: focus on the actions, big or small, you can take right now, and worry less about all the things that are well beyond your immediate control. It's all we've got.
Here are your 5 Things.
GO TO THIS. Today at 10 am Youth Vs. Apocalypse will be leading a climate Strike at the Federal Building at 90 7th street in SF. We will be on location to create art and send a message to our federal officials to stop Line 3, and to our teachers to make sure their pension fund stops investing in environmental racism and destruction. At noon, we will march to City Hall to ask elected officials there to finally clean up BayView and Treasure Island. If you can't attend but want to donate to support the organization and the event, you can do so right here.
SIGN THIS. Last week, The Movement for Black Lives released a report, Struggle for Power: The Ongoing Persecution of Black Movement by the U.S. Government, with their partners at CLEAR. The report provides clear evidence that the federal government deliberately targeted supporters of the movement to defend Black lives during the political uprisings against police terror last summer. They did this in order to disrupt and discourage the movement. Sign their petition calling on the Biden Administration and Congress to end this targeting and protect those who protest in defense of Black lives.
LISTEN TO THIS. In the latest Storied SF X Rep Co podcast, the founder and executive director of Hip Hop for Change shares his life story. San Francisco native and life-long activist. Khafre Jay talks about growing up in the city, his own rap career, his time in Greenpeace, and why he's been working for almost a decade to get corporations out of the business of hip hop, and instead return the genre to its roots in the community. Listen here.
AND THIS. Kimberlé Crenshaw is one of the scholars who developed Critical Race Theory and coined the term “intersectionality,” a framework that takes into account how a person’s identities combine to create unique forms of discrimination or privilege. As lawmakers, parents, think tanks, and conservative pundits continue to wage a war over how to teach students about systemic racism (27 state legislatures and 165 national and local organizations have made efforts to restrict education on racism), now is the perfect time to tune in and hear Ms. Crenshaw in conversation with the ACLU as she explains the true meaning of Critical Race Theory and how it became a political flashpoint in schools and beyond.
SUPPORT THIS. We've sung the praises of Umber before—it's a first-of-its kind themed graphic journal highlighting the Black and Brown perspective. We recently got a sneak peek of the forthcoming Wealth issue from Umber's founder—the creative director, designer and visual artist Mike Nicholls—and it's going to be a stunning, informative, and necessary work of art and journalism. Mike is asking for his community to pitch in and support to help get this issue wrapped up. You can donate (and reserve your own copy!) right here.