Beyond the Vote: Supporting Marginalized Folks After November 3rd, 2020

2020 has been a year, but the problems we are facing beyond COVID-19 have been a long time coming.  Police Brutality, Racism towards Black, Brown, Indigenous and Persons of Color, Marriage Equality and LGBTQIA+ Rights, Reproductive Rights, Affordable and Accessible Healthcare for both disabled and non-disabled folks, Education Disparities for First Generation, Low-income Students and Climate Change: this is not a 2020 issue. These were issues that started back in 1492, in the inception of this country.  No matter who wins the election, these issues and COVID-19 will continue to impact all of us. 

Voting "blue" will not fix any of this. Because the "blue" political officials are just as complicit in the continued perpetuation of  systemic racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, sinophobia and global imperialism that has made this country and the world the way it is. Not one party is better than the other and we know that. So we need to support ourselves. Systems don't save us, we save us. As a result, I wanted to make this resource bank on ways we can continue to support marginalized folks in the coming days and months after the election; because your advocacy cannot stop there. There is a diversity of resources, from text and media, to organizations to donate to and also some self-help/mental health resources to aid you all as well.  I hope you find this resource bank helpful and I will be sure to update every two weeks as I myself learn and gather information. Sending love and strength to you all.

 Protesting Resources

Tips on Protesting Safely 

Know Your Rights-BLM Chicago

Safety During Protest-Amnesty International 

November Safety Checklist

List of Bail Funds to Donate To

National Bail Funds:

National Bail Fund Network

The Bail Project

State Bail Funds:

A List of State Bail Funds by the National Bail Fund Network 

Resources to Become a Street Medic 

(TO BE UPDATED)

 A List of Organizations to Donate To 

(Credit to Bustle, NYMAG and Pb-Resources)

Black Organizations

Supporting Indigenous Folks 

Reproductive Rights Resources

Black Queer and Trans Organizations

LGBTQIA+ BIPOC Focused Orgs

 Books you should read/purchase (from non-amazon retailers if you have the income to) 

Supporting Black Lives 

  • When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir: Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors

  • They Can't Kill Us All: The Story of Black Lives Matter: Wesley Lowery

  • New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness: Michelle Alexander

  • Between the World and Me: Ta-Nehisi Coates

  • So You Want to Talk About Race: Ijeoma Oluo

  • How to Be an Antiracist: Ibram X. Kendi

  • From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

  • Stamped from the Beginning: Ibram X. Kendi

  • Citizen: An American Lyric: Claudia Rankine

  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption: Bryan Stevenson

  • The Autobiography of Malcolm X: Alex Haley and Malcolm X

  • Ghost Boys: Jewell Parker Rhodes

  • One Crazy Summer: Rita Williams-Garcia

  • March: Book One: Andrew Aydin and John Lewis

  • The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America: Richard Rothstein

  • Tears We Cannot Stop: Michael Eric Dyson

  • Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice: Phillip Hoose

  • Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements: Charlene Carruthers

  • Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower: Brittney Cooper

  • Tyler Johnson Was Here: Jay Coles

  • Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot: Mikki Kendall

  • I'm Still Here: Austin Channing Brown

Climate Change

  • The Uninhabitable Earth: David Wallace-Wells

  • This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate: Naomi Klein

  • Merchants of Doubt: Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes

  • Losing Earth: Nathaniel Rich

  • No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference: Greta Thunberg

  • The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History: Elizabeth Kolbert

  • We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast: Jonathan Safran Foer

  • The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here: Hope Jahren

  • The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable: Amitav Ghosh

  • Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Elizabeth Kolbert

  • Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet: Mark Lynas

Indigenous Folks

  • Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets

  • New Poets of Native Nations edited by Heid E. Erdrich

  • Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

  • The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote

  • Living on the Borderlines by Melissa Michal

  • Black Indian by Shonda Buchanan

  • Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge

  • As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, From Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

  • Hope Matters by Lee Maracle, Columpa Bobb, and Tania Carter

  • Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

  • The Tao of Raven: An Alaska Native Memoir by Ernestine Hayes

  • Ceremony: Leslie Marmon Silko

  • The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: David Treuer

  • The Things She’s Seen: Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

  • There There: Tommy Orange

LGBTQIA+ 

  • The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle by Lillian Faderman

  • And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts

  • Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell

  • Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

  • 13th Balloon by Mark Bibbins

  • All Adults Here by Emma Straub

  • Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition by P. Carl

  • Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

  • Born to Be Public by Greg Mania

  • Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

  • The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

  • Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

  • Gay Like Me: A Father Writes to His Son by Richie Jackson

  • Guillotine by Eduardo C. Corral

  • Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas

  • Memorial by Bryan Washington

  • Plain Bad Heroines, by emily m. danforth

  • The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels

A List of Black-Owned Book Stores

List Credit: Oprah Magazine *Strictly online bookseller

 Mental Health Resources

CRISIS NUMBERS

Boys Town National Hotline: 

1-800-448-3000

(Available 24/7)

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 

1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Spanish Speakers: 1-888-628-9454

The Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889

Veterans: 1-800-273-8255

(Available 24/7)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Helpline: 

1-800-662-HELP (4357)

(Available 24/7)

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline: 

1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

(Available 10AM - 6PM EST, Mon-Fri)

Teen Line: 

1-310-855-HOPE (4673) or 1-800-TLC-TEEN (852-8336)

(Available 6PM - 10PM PST)

(Also available by texting “TEEN” to 839863)

Crisis Text Line

Text “HELLO” to 741741 

Disaster Distress Helpline

1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746 

 Mental Health Organizations + Resources for BIPOC folks

list credit: National Alliance Mental Health 

 Police Defunding and Abolition 

(credit to pb-resources- check their site out for more resources/tips specific to supporting Black Lives)

Education on defunding

Alternatives to calling the police...

On Abolition

Personal Actions

  • Don't feel obligated to defend property, especially corporate "private" property. Before confronting someone or calling the police, ask yourself if anyone is being hurt or endangered by property "theft" or damage. If the answer is no then let it be. If you see someone stealing and the situation is not causing you or another person to be in danger, move on.

  • If something of yours is stolen and you need to file a report for insurance or other purposes, instead of calling the police and bringing them into the community and putting people in danger, consider going directly to the police station instead.

  • If you observe someone exhibiting "odd" behavior, take a second to consider your own biases. Why is that person's behavior odd? Are they causing you any danger or do you think they can cause danger to others or themselves? If you feel comfortable, directly communicate with the person. Ask them if they are okay and if they need any medical attention. Also ask them to talk a more private setting/in an environment that would not cause someone from the public to panic and just call the police. If you don't feel comfortable with doing that, talk to someone who may be around you in the community and ask if they know the person. Express to them that if they want to help for the individual, to make sure that law enforcement is not involved in any way.

  • If you see someone pulled over with a car trouble, stop and ask if they need help or if you can call a tow truck for them. If the police are introduced to such a situation, they may give punitive and unnecessary tickets to people with car issues, target those without papers, or worse. If the police show up, stay with that person and be sure to document and record any and all interactions, while also protecting yourself and that person.

  • Keep a list of community resources like suicide hotlines that don't require sending police to intervene on your phone, in your car, wallet and laptop, so you have those resources readily available no matter where you are.

  • CHECK YOURSELF! Why do you think you need to call the police on someone you think is acting "suspicious"? Is their race, gender, ethnicity, class, hair, religion, clothing or housing situation influencing your choice? Such calls can be death sentences for many people. They have in the past and will continue to be unless you take action to recognize your own biases and prevent unnecessary deaths.

  • Continue to educate yourself on police defunding, abolition and search for local organizations within your area to donate to and support.