"You don't spit into the wind..."
So, I'm white and I've lived my whole life in the south. Worse, I grew up in a rural area in the foothills of the Appalachians, where the minority population was less than 7% of the total. The Jim Crow segregation that existed before I was born was largely still in place when I was growing up. The high schools were integrated only because there was only one high school per county. But housing patterns remained much as they had always been. As did wages and other measures of standard of living.
I've witnessed overt racist statements made by whites both directly to and behind the backs of my black brothers and sisters. Some of them made by my family members. (I am a Unitarian-Universalist, so I regard all people as my brothers and sisters.)
I don't know how I turned out to be liberal, but I did. (I am grateful that I did.)
In light of another diary asking Black Lives Matter movement participants what a white, middle-aged woman should do to help, I, as a white, middle-aged woman didn't feel I could fairly answer that question in that diary - it wasn't being asked of me. But I wanted to share what I have done, am doing, and why I hope it helps.
I'm open to doing different things, where possible, but I think pursuing Justice as a foundation is a good place to start.
From a comment in that diary, I followed a link to the State of the Black Union and relevant list of demands posted online at the Black Lives Matter site.
The demands listed there align perfectly with the values I hold and with my vision for a better, more just, more prosperous country.
BLM is asking for sentencing reform, death penalty reform (I want abolition), policing reform, and the release of political prisoners held by the United States. I admit, I know nothing about political prisoners in this country (except for that one guy in Alabama maybe?). So I'll have to look into that more.
But I think I've been on the BLM side of those other criminal justice issues for years now. I've been donating to the ACLU and to my state chapter of the ACLU since I was in college. Granted, I'm not a huge donor - I'm not a wealthy person. But my view is that the ACLU is the advocacy group best positioned to make gains in this area. By winning lawsuits, they can force real change, as they have in the past. They have a pretty good track record. So I am glad to support them (even though they sometimes defend the right of people to say things that I find extremely offensive - my position is that it's better to know someone is a racist than for them to be one and not know).
Another group that I support is The Innocence Project. I've written letters to my state legislators when made aware of issues by this group. Again, I think they are well-positioned to force changes, correcting one injustice at a time, while simultaneously improving the condition of the law going forward.
Keeping up with Police Reform efforts is extremely important to me. Police have a great deal of power in our society and it's important they wield it in a sane fashion and too many of them have failed in that capacity. I have been following the work of Radley Balko for several years now. He's an expert on police abuse of civil liberties and so keeping up with him helps me stay informed. Granted, he aligns himself with libertarians on most issues, but civil liberties and police reform is an area where we have common ground with libertarian-leaning folk. Beyond staying well informed, beyond my local vote for city government and sheriff, I'm not sure what else I can do. I'm open to suggestions.
BLM is asking for access to affordable health care, affordable, decent housing, and access to affordable nutritious food. I agree with all of that too. In fact, I think affordable housing is kind of a forgotten issue these days. It's the single biggest expense that working people face and the cost of housing has risen (even considering the burst bubble) far faster than have wages. When I was in my 20s and trying to raise my daughter on my own, in order to live in a safe neighborhood, I had to spend over 50% of my paycheck on rent. Financial experts always advise people to spend 25 to 30% of their take home pay on rent or mortgage. Good luck with that when you're making $18k. So maybe there could be funding for housing that would be priced on a sliding scale?
The ACA is making progress toward more affordable health care. I will support only those leaders who want to make the ACA better.
I support local farmers markets, especially the two that are located downtown (rather than the huge one out by the highway). This helps farmers and it helps people who live within range of the markets. I know some cities are doing well with community gardens. If I had the time, like maybe if I ever retire, helping with one of those gardens would be something I could do. I've read about a Veggie Van in NYC that delivers vegetables to people who live in food deserts. So there are solutions being implemented at the grassroots level.
BLM is asking for economic opportunity and access to quality education. When I had a job that had a later start time, I used to volunteer to read to first graders at a school located between a couple of housing projects. I would have 4 or 5 kids sitting around me and I'd read books to them. I enjoyed it. They enjoyed it. And reading to kids is one of THE. BEST. THINGS. you can do for them. It also helped the teacher out so she could work with a different group of kids. For a while, she only had a part-time teacher assistant in her classroom, so having a volunteer reader was a big help then. It's not a huge thing. It's not a total solution. It was one or two hours a week. But there are things we can do as individuals that will help. My local vote for school board and my local vote on school improvement bonds help. A sound education is the foundation for economic opportunity (given a sane trade policy). But you can volunteer in your local schools and make a difference.
BLM is asking for equal rights for the LGBTQ population and for fair voting rights. Again, I'm going to say that the ACLU is my go-to advocacy group on these issues. I'm 100% on board with this.
I would like to get involved in an organized effort to change the way we draw our district boundaries in NC - to undo the terrible gerrymandering that they are now proceeding to enact city by city so that they will have an advantage not just in the General Assembly but in city governments too. I have written to state legislators (none of whom represent me) who are sympathetic to this goal. If I find a group working toward this goal in NC, I will see what I can do to help them.
I am following the Voting Rights trial unfolding in Winston-Salem and am glad that the ACLU is a part of that. It's just more evidence that contributing to the ACLU is money well spent.
BLM is asking for an end to the Military-Industrial Complex. Woo. That is a bold demand. I want that too, actually. I think our military should be for actually defending our country against aggression, instead of as a mercenary wing of Corporate America, which it has often been. I think we are experiencing the blowback that we wrought in the 20th century and it doesn't seem like we're really making things any better. So, yeah. I like that demand. I would like a different kind of military - one that doesn't make foreign poor people's lives worse and that doesn't suck so many resources. But I don't know how to get there from here. Do you? Short of electing a large block of people who agree with this and who are immune to corruption?... if there's another way I'm open to it. Although not if it involves any kind of apocalypse because that just.. defeats the purpose.
Finally, I come to this site and others to find out what's going on. If I should call my Congressmen about something (not that they care - they're all pretty far-right republicans). If I should contact a company about something (they care more because they want our money). It's not much. But it's what a middle-aged working person can do.
So am I actually helping? Should I be doing something else? Am I just pissing into the wind? I don't know but the thought of not trying to help is not something I want to contemplate much.
As I was just reading over what I've written here, trying to find all my typos, I realized that I haven't listed everything I do or have done. Not even close. One example, for several years, I served on the social justice committee at my church and one of our projects was getting a group of us on a bus to go to Raleigh every week to protest the death penalty. I also spent a few years volunteering doing outreach to homeless people. I mean, in a lifetime, you mostly just try to do the right thing and then do the next right thing, and just keep going like that. If you do that, maybe you can't go too far wrong?
It doesn't hurt to ask if there are other ways to help. But I guess my view is that BLM is simply seeking to extend Justice, Liberty and Opportunity to the group that has, historically and today still, been most denied from having them. Pursuing Justice, Liberty and Opportunity for all, in practice and not just in theory, is how we help.