Black Lives Matter: Your Toolkit
The modern, developed world is built on white supremacy and systemic racism. Individually, we may believe we’re not racist, but we all participate in a global society that has been created by and designed to enable and sustain white power at the expense of non-white populations, in particular the Black and Indigenous communities. We are quick to call out racism in its most obvious forms, such as hate speech and violence. But over thousands of years, it has manifested itself in a multitude of practices, policies and microaggressions, a reminder that racism is institutional and intersectional. We have a lot of work to do, on societal and individual levels, to be actively anti-racist. Whether we are protesting, talking to racist family members, or ensuring we are consuming content from Black creators, the responsibility lies within each of us to become better than the environment we were raised in.
This guide is aimed at allies of the Black Lives Matter movement who are interested in learning, action and continued action; finding ways to sustain your support for Black lives in everyday behaviours, practices and content consumption. In addition, at the end of this toolkit are support resources for Black people. Until there is justice and fairness for Black and Indigenous lives, there can be no real justice. Silence and compliance is violence.
All links in this post open in new tabs, so you can click on all of them and have a dedicated BLM browser window. Save to your reading list or create a bookmarks folder and keep it in your Favourites bar. Go ahead, click!
This post was last updated on 9 June 2021
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Glossary of terms
BLM
Black Lives Matter
Black lives are disproportionately affected by the dangers of systemic racism. This phrase reminds us that equality is achieved through equity.
BIPOC
Black, Indigenous, People of Colour
This acronym acknowledges that different levels of injustice are faced among POC: Black and Indigenous are named specifically as the most oppressed by racist systems.
White supremacy
The belief that white people are superior to other races
Institutional / systemic racism
Racism that is inherent and ingrained in our social systems e.g. our justice system
Intersectionality
Understanding how the overlap of different identities (race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.) affects the experience of an individual or group
Equity
Ensuring fairness by adapting the support given to an individual/group according to their needs
Decolonise
in ref. to academic / cultural institutions
Restructuring/altering an organisation’s content, perspective and behaviours to challenge and remove colonial bias
Defund
the police / military
Reallocate funds from these departments to other public services that will support communities e.g. mental health, housing, youth programmes, education
A brief history lesson…
Remember that the oppression of Black lives, Black culture and Black history inevitably means that the information available to us is nowhere near as extensive and documented as with white history. This being said, it is important to make the effort to research Black history and consume material from different sources to understand the systemic racism within your communities and culture, and how it has affected the lives of Black people worldwide.
Global
BlackPast: Global African History Timeline
Holly Hood: Black history facts no one knows about
Origin Of Everything: Why did Europeans enslave Africans?
TED-Ed: The Atlantic slave trade: what too few textbooks told you about
Racial Equity Tools: Global History of Racism
World Economic Forum: A brief history of racism in healthcare
University of Wollongong: Racism: a global analysis
DNA Weekly: 10 Reasons You Should Support Black Lives Matter
US
Free Yale course: African American History: From Emancipation to the Present
ARTSEDGE: Learn about African American history through the arts
BlackPast: African American History Timeline
Smithsonian: The History of Racism in America
Al Jazeera: Know your history: Understanding racism in the US
HISTORY: Black History Milestones: Timeline
UK
Free Exeter course: Empire: the Controversies of British Imperialism
Black Lives Matter UK: Slave Trade Debt
BFI Player: Portraits of Black lives in 20th century Britain
Socialist Alternative: The History of Blacks in Britain
British Library: Campaign for Abolition
Huffington Post: 16 Key Events In The History of Anti-Black Racism In The UK
Read, watch, listen
Media by Black creators and artists to educate on the Black experience.
Note: book purchase links are affiliate links that direct you to Bookshop, a US-based retailer that supports local booksellers. The DAI˚ALOGUE will donate 100% of commission earned through these affiliate links to fundraisers for Black individuals, with donation choices listed weekly in The DAI˚GEST, our newsletter (sign up at the bottom of this post). This does not affect the price you pay and using these affiliate links is entirely at your discretion. Consider browsing your local bookshop or second-hand shop to see if any anti-racism titles are available before buying online.
read
Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? (Free eBook)
Black History Month Library (Free literature to download)
Native Son - Richard Wright
Me and White Supremacy - Layla Saad
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
Indigenous Men and Masculinities - various authors
watch
If Beale Street Could Talk
BlackKklansman
Atlanta
Let It Fall
Dark Girls
13th
The Central Park Five
I Am Not Your Negro
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
When They See Us
Paris is Burning
How you can help
Click on the buttons to open each action item in a new window
Global
US
UK
Black-owned businesses and restaurants
Organisations to follow
Global
blakbusiness (Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander)
Africa Center Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Across Boundaries (Canada)
Black Women in Motion (Canada)
Black Legal Action Centre (Canada)
Anti-Racism Network South Africa (South Africa)
Activism resources
Global
US
UK
Mental health support
Stay up-to-date
LA-based comic and biomedical engineer Pallavi Gunalan curates a Supporting Black Lives mailing list with news, information and action items (places to donate, petitions to sign, upcoming events). Sign up to receive weekly updates and keep up the momentum with your own activism.
In addition, she also coordinates a Supporting Black Lives Book Club and a Supporting Black Lives Movie Club to read/watch/discuss Black media. Drop her an email if you are interested in joining!
Black Lives Matter updates in real time—bookmark these pages:
Recommend a resource
This post serves as a directory for resources relating to Black Lives Matter, anti-racism work and BIPOC issues; we aim to update it as and when we find new and relevant resources. Send us your suggestions and we’ll include them here to help everyone access actionable items to keep campaigning, educating and supporting communities of colour. You can also subscribe to The DAI˚GEST for weekly updates on global issues, the arts and more.
Black Lives Matter—always. This post is western-centric due to the recent resurgence of the movement in the United States and the United Kingdom, but if you have information or resources surrounding race relations where you’re from or elsewhere in the world, get in touch.
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*pun intended
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