Black Liberation Groups in DC:
Black Lives Matter DMV– BLM DMV is a collective of artist, activists and organizers who leverage their resources, networks and skills to further Black Liberation work in the DMV. Currently focusing on healing and coalition building.
Stop Police Terror Project DC– Formerly DC Ferguson, SPTP DC organizes around police brutality and milatirized policing. Has led a campaign to stop jump outs.
BYP 100 DC Chapter– Chapter of a national organization out of Chicago. A membership organization for Black folx between the ages of 18 and 35. Currently working on the school to prison pipeline.
Solidarity Groups for Black Liberation in DC:
Asian & Pacific Islander Resistance: email apiresistance@gmail.com- Focuses on combatting internal anti-Blackness within the API community in DC.
Showing Up for Racial Justice DC Chapter (White Solidarity): email list and facebook group– The DC Chapter of this national organization working to support, connect and train white people working on racial justice issues.
Campaign Against Police Abuse (CAPA): email capa@gmail.com- CAPA aims to document and publicize police brutality in DC. Right now they are working on a campaign to go into communities and ask what people think of the police.
Train the Movement: A People of Color-led and organized network of facilitators and trainers of diverse experiences, backgrounds and skill levels in DC. TraintheMovement@gmail.com, 202.810.3130
Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum (MAWPF): A collective of Muslim women organizers and other women of color who are organizing at the intersection of gender-based violence and state violence, with a focus on local DC work. MAWPF.info@gmail.com, MAWPF.org.
5 Points on how to be an ally by Omolara Williams McCallister:
- Think critically and creatively about how your privilege affects the way that you view and interact with others, particularly those who do not share your privilege.
- Spare me the burden of proof, of educating or justifying. Do your homework: Read, Research, check your facts, check your sources. (I’m doing the same thing.) Listen first and always. If you lead, lead with informed questions directed towards an appropriate source–someone who has invited you into dialogue, someone you are already in dialogue with, someone who has accepted your invitation to dialogue. You can ask for an invitation. It may be turned down. Respect that decision.
- Be open to making mistakes and to be willing to apologize for them. In doing so you are not apologizing for your privilege, you are apologizing for not taking the time to be aware of how your privilege shows up and how if affects people who don’t have that privilege when it shows up–that’s the third time I’ve said that because I want you to HEAR it.
- Respect and protect our boundaries and our spaces. Black folks often do not have the opportunity to gather with each other and talk through our issues and differences of opinion amongst ourselves. One of the ways to avoid co-opting space is to be intentional about asking and paying attention to what kinds of boundaries people are drawing. They may be explicit, they may be implied, they may show up when triggered. If you don’t know or aren’t sure, ask somebody.
- Wake up everyday and choose to do this work everyday. Choose to do these things that I have asked. One of the functions of your privilege is that you actually are never required to do them unless you choose to and there is nothing to stop you from waking up one day and not making that choice. This personal work is hard, and not as– if at all–satisfying as direct action, but it is at least twice as necessary.
General Resources:
A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement by Alicia Garza
Sociologists for Justice Ferguson Syllabus
Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy
ONE EVERY 28 HOURS Report by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Resources for white folks:
Washington Peace Center Building White Solidarity for Black Liberation Panel
Dear White Allies: Stop Unfriending Other White People Over Ferguson
Protocol & Principles for White People Working to Support the Black Liberation Movement
Tools for White Anti-Racist Organizing
Catalyst Project’s CULTURE SHIFTS
Readings from the 2013 Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program
Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change
Checklist for white allies against racism