On May 25th George Floyd. 46, was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for nine minutes resulting in Floyd’s death. A video of the incident was resealed to the public and the nation erupted in anger. This was one of many cases of police brutality against African Americans.
One month ago, a division of the Louisville Police Department performed an illegal, unannounced drug raid on Breonna Taylor’s home. Not a single officer announced themselves before ramming down her door and firing 22 shots, shooting Breonna 8 times, killing her.
In June 2019 Emerald Black, pregnant at the time, was pulled over for bad registration tags, the police officers stomped on her stomach leading her to miscarry. Floyd’s case was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Nationwide protests have been held to demand justice for George Floyd. Many of us are not able to attend these protests, but we can still help.
Donate to the cause: change.org is accepting donations. You can donate to George Floyds memorial fund at gofundme.com. YouTuber Zoe Amira is donating 100% of her ad revenue from this video to bail funds and memorial funds. You cannot skip the add for this to work properly.
Organizations that are supporting this movement include the Brooklyn bail (Brooklynbailfund.org), ACLU NYC (aclu.org), black lives matter (blacklivesmatter.com). These are some of the organizations that are accepting donations. There are countless more who are aiming to educate and spread awareness. This is the master List of Companies’ Support for BLM.
Sign petitions to charge all officers present during Floyd’s death at change.org.
You can text Floyd to 55156, text justice to 668336, text enough to 55165. Demand for justice for Breonna Taylor at 5025742003.
You can also email officials to defund NYC police at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
A suggested email format is as follows:
Dear New York City Council Members,
My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a resident of [BOROUGH]. Last April, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio proposed major budget cuts for the Fiscal Year 2021, especially to education and youth programs, while refusing to slash the NYPD budget by any significant margin.
I am emailing today to demand that you vote no on the Mayor’s FY21 proposed budget. Furthermore, I urge you to pressure the office of the mayor towards an ethical and equal reallocation of the NYC expense budget, away from NYPD and towards social services and education programs, effective at the beginning of FY21, July 1, 2020.
Governor Cuomo has doubled the presence of the NYPD on New York City streets. I am asking that city officials lobby the same amount of attention and effort towards finding sustainable, long-term change.
Thank you,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]
[YOUR EMAIL]
[YOUR PHONE NUMBER]
Educate yourself about the topic before posting on social media. A thread on twitter educates people who do not have the means to donate or protest: Here is that thread.
Avoid posting and resharing photos that could help police, organized and unorganized white supremacist groups, and employers identify the people protesting. Click here if you’re not sure how to blur people’s faces, tattoos, and other identifying attributes.
Update your reading list. Some suggestions include “In Defense of Looting” by Vicky Osterweil, “There’s No Such Thing as a Pretty Protest” by Tirhakah Love, “White Witness and the Contemporary Lynching” by Zoé Samudzi, “Black is Crime: Notes on Blaqillegalism” by Dubian Ade. to understand the U.S policing here is a thread of documentaries to watch.
