The murder of George Floyd on 25th May has outraged the world. In America, there have been almost a week of protests to showcase the anger of the public towards the racial inequality that exists in society today. Of course, it can be hard to participate directly in protests, and especially considering the health crisis we are all living in. However, there are still many things you can do. Here is a list of just 5 actions you can take if you want to use your voice and take action against racism.
Sign petitions
Signing petitions is one of the easiest things you can do. You may not feel like your single signature makes a difference, but together, it does. It is your right to sign a petition and it showcases the mass of support that there is for a particular cause or event, whilst aiming to attract the attention of politicians and pressure governments to act and change. So, head over to change.org and sign petitions such as “Justice for George Floyd” (which now has over 10 million signatures!) to show your support. There are many other petitions which are also seeking justice for black victims, so look through the website or tick the box to opt in to receive emails about similar petitions.
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd?use_react=false
https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis/
https://www.change.org/t/black-lives-matter-en-us
Donate
Donations are importantl for many reasons, such as covering the legal costs that protesters are faced with and supporting the families of victims. Make sure you are donating to legitimate pages – for example, there is currently a donation page for the family of George Floyd, which was made by his sister, to help with costs such as for the burial costs, grief counselling and court-related charges.
If you are not financially able to contribute to the donation pages, sharing the page on your social media can help signpost these pages with the aim that others will donate.
You can also look up charities to donate to, and even more local ones you could support.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/
Social media involvement
Unfortunately, George Floyd is not the only victim of racial crime. And, America is not the only place where this is a common occurrence. Spreading awareness through social media can be powerful as it can incite public action, support, and hopefully change. Sharing (or writing) posts or articles for your followers to read shows your support and helps the circulation of information such as petition and donation links – just be mindful not to spread misinformation or sensitive information that could actually be offensive!
This is the easiest thing you can do to show support, and although it may not directly make the biggest difference, it is certainly worth doing.
Educate yourself
For allies, it is important to educate ourselves on the struggles that POC face day by day that White people don’t. White privilege is the simple fact that our lives are not made harder by the colour of our skin – and we have a responsibility to acknowledge this privilege.
As an ally, we must confront racial injustices, amplify the voices of POC and inform others of their White privilege whilst informing them on what they can do to help. You can sit and read some of the many books, articles and resources available, or listen to some of the podcasts, in order to get a wider understanding of racism in society – it’s as easy as that to learn, unlearn and then keep on learning again.
https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/black-lives-matter-reading-list
https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/13-books-you-should-read-about-black-lives.html
Sadly, George Floyd is not the first, nor will he be the last victim of a racial crime. It is important that in times to come, we stay alert, vocal and involved with racial prejudices and continue to help in whatever way we can until equality is achieved.