Sarah Lumberg
- Jun 1, 2020
- 5 min read

Newsletter: June 1-7, 2020 #BlackLivesMatter

As part of the Indivisible Chicago Alliance, we stand with their statement on recent events: "The nation’s tragedy playing out before us is profoundly painful. We are devastated for our friends and neighbors who act from a place of deep and justified pain. We demand justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. We are committed to understanding and addressing the white privilege that many of us enjoy and to recognizing and calling out the many ways that racism is reflected in the policies and institutions in our country. We will continue to work in support of the activism of those impacted communities who know best how to lead, and join them in demanding the systemic changes that address police violence and the causes and impact of racism in Chicago" (and Evanston).

George Floyd’s death is horrific, but not unique. America’s police and criminal justice systems are the legacies of our country’s white supremacist, slave-owning history. Structural racism persists across every facet of American life and is perhaps most evident in the way that law enforcement interacts with communities of color. All across the country, Black people are more likely to be harassed, arrested, and killed by police than their white counterparts.

We have a national crisis of white supremacist violence against Black people in this country. In the past 10 years alone, we witnessed the deaths of thousands of Black people at the hands of police. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and Philando Castile are just some of the names of those we’ve lost to racialized police violence. As Indivisible leaders, we are committed to listening, educating ourselves, and to taking action in support of organizations and leaders that are fighting for people and communities who are the most impacted by racism and police violence. However, nothing is going to get better in this country unless we get Trump out of the White House, take back the Senate majority from the GOP and help Democrats hold the House majority. No march or protest is going to do that. Voting is our power, and we have five months to do the work to make this happen. Then the work begins to hold Democrats accountable for making tangible changes nationally to show us that they stand behind Black Lives Matter as more than just a campaign platform. We are committed to doing the work, but we need your help. Please take a moment to sign up for one of our actions in this newsletter, or visit our Take Action page and get involved today. Thank you.

IE Leadership

Our Calls to Action

1. Take Action with Indivisible's Resource: Solidarity for Minneapolis, George Floyd and Black Lives.

2. Follow Up with the 5/31 Evanston Fight for Black Lives March and Rally: Take action with these Resources, Petitions and Donations from the outstanding youth organizers. Support Evanston Black-owned businesses.

3. Ask your representative to co-sponsor the Omar-Pressley Resolution. Reps. Ilhan Omar (MN-5) and Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) have introduced a resolution in the House condemning police violence. Call your representative and demand that they co-sponsor the resolution and speak out publicly about the need to pass it without delay. Evanston's Rep. Jan Schakowsky has just signed on as a co-sponsor. Click here to thank Rep. Schakowsy for her support. If she is not your House rep., click here.

4. Calls for Justice: Only one of the officers involved in the murder of George Floyd has been arrested and charged. Call County Attorney Michael Freeman at (844) 278-2934 and demand that the other three officers are arrested and charged, and that protestors are released now. (See this tweet from Color of Change)

5. Donate to and support these local Minneapolis-area organizations (you can use this page to split a donation). Some local organizations, including Reclaim the Block and Black Visions Collective, have requested that donors contribute to other Minnesota-based groups listed in the Google Doc here.

6. Black Out Tuesday: June 2. Honor Black lives with #BlackOutTuesday in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Take time to listen, educate ourselves, and find ways to help. #TheShowMustBePaused. No social media, nothing apart from a day of contemplation and education. Think. Act. CHANGE. Progress starts somewhere. It starts with you. Change your profile to a black square.

7. Pursue your own anti-racist education with these resources: Anti-Racism Resources for White People, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh, and Qualified Immunity: Explained. Other Suggested Reading: White Fragility, How To Be An Anti-Racist.

8. Stop sharing traumatic videos of violence against Black people. Out of respect for those affected by acts of violence, we urge our members instead focus on lifting up Black voices, and supporting black-led organizations. The Obama Foundation has a great resource to help you do that.

9. Read former President Barack Obama's recent essay: How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change, which includes the report and toolkit developed by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights from his administration's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Check out the Obama Foundation site which directs you to useful resources and organizations who’ve been fighting the good fight at the local and national levels for years.

10. Support the work of BLOC in Milwaukee (Black Leaders Organizing for Communities). We have shared BLOC's mission with you before, which primarily is to invest in Milwaukee's Black community and engage citizens to build long-term political power. Read more about BLOC in our blog.