Last Updated on February 25, 2022 by ThoughtsStained
Welcome to the latest in my Allyship Check-In series! This series is meant to share resources–through articles, blog posts, multimedia, book recommendations, petitions and more–to help each of us live more antiracist lives.
As the world continues to deal with climate disasters, the pandemic and growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine (that has risen to all out war), it’s important to continue to both take care of ourselves, but also each other. I hope the resources below can help you take a step in doing just that.
Also, happy Black History Month! A reminder that Black lives, history, culture should be celebrated and respected year round, not just in February.
Series Background
I started this “series” of blog posts in 2020 to share more resources to help with each of our own anti-racist journeys. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that many of the resources I’m linking down below come from the hard work of those on the Anti-Racist Daily team (the ARD) , to which I subscribe for daily email updates. Many of the readings, actions and donation links come from what I learn from their articles. As such, I have become a monthly Patreon donor, because you need to pay BIPOC people for the work they do in helping dismantle racism, not just take what you can for free. I hope you consider subscribing and supporting them, too, especially if you are a white reader.
Like I mentioned before, while a lot of these resources are tied and focused to the Black Lives Matter movement, I have started to incorporate other resources about more global events, as well.
Please keep the comments kind and constructive–though, please never hesitate to call me out if I’ve misstepped, if you are comfortable doing that emotional labor you shouldn’t have to do in the first place. I appreciate your assistance in helping me learn and continue to grow into the actual ally I want to be.
Last caveat: I listed a bunch of resources, because I hope you will click on the links and listen to the BIPOC voices who are speaking up, instead of hearing my take. I’m using this as a space to amplify their voices–not add my own commentary to the mix.

Staying Informed
On top of continuing to read the amazing work from the ARD team, I recently subscribed to two more newsletters: Ijeoma Oluo’s Beyond the Book, which is powerful, poignant and passionate, from every day life to addressing systematic failures to writing advice. I also subscribed The Prism‘s newsletter to get round-ups of their articles posted each week, as I really appreciate the work they are doing.
You’ll find samples from all three places (and more!) within the articles below. I hope you consider subscribing, as well!
(^^ I wrote this in last month’s Allyship Check-In, but I felt it important enough to repeat here!)
Readings
Articles and Blog Posts
Highlights from the ARD
- An Ivy League Class, a Viral Tweet, and the Myth of the Middle Class by Andrew Lee
- The Normalization of Violence Towards Asian Women by Allison
Black Lives Matter
- Black History is Your History by Ijeoma Oluo in her newsletter, Behind the Book
- Grief Over Time by Derecka Purnell for The Cut
- Breonna Taylor death: trial begins for only officer charged in botched raid in The Guardian
- Black Disabled Lives Matter: We Can’t Erase Disability in #BLM by Sarah Kim for teenVogue
Politics
- A guide to the Black female judges who are contenders to replace Justice Breyer by Annabelle Timsit, Seung Min Kim, Ann E. Marimow and Ellen Francis for The Washington Post
- Biden’s first year in office left roadblocks for BIPOC progress by Alexandra Martinez for Prism
- The possibility of first Black woman SCOTUS nominee prompts misogynoirist pushback by Natasha Ishak for Prism
- There still isn’t a roadmap to family reunification one year after repealing the Muslim Ban by Alexandra Martinez for Prism
LBGTQIA+ Rights
- Some men can get pregnant—and transmasculine people must be included in the fight for reproductive freedom by Orion Rodriquez for Prism
- For Black queer femmes, redefining Blackness and queerness are revolutionary acts by Vilissa Thompson for Prism
- Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill will harm LGBTQ+ youth of color by Alexandra Martinez for Prism
Education
- Education advocates say the best way to address racial bias in standardized testing is to eliminate the tests completely by Shriya Bhattacharya for Prism
Pandemic
- Workers are being forced back into their jobs despite growing health risks by Sakshi Udavant for Prism
Publishing and Book Banning
- ‘Concerning’ 23% drop in Black characters in children’s bestsellers since 2020 by Natalie Morris for Metro
- Book bans are the result of white fear of a changing world by George M. Johnson for Prism
Violence Against Asian Women
- Us has a long history of Violence against Asian Women by Karen Leong and Karen Kuo for The Conversation
- The history of fetishizing Asian women by Rachel Ramirez for Vox
Videos, Podcasts and Media
Excited to have some more multimedia to share this month than I normally do (since I tend to focus on writing-based media, personally). The TedTalks below, especially, I found to be really powerful.
Multimedia
- Learn more about protesting Line 5 through this short press conference!
- Explore the following powerful Ted Talks:
- Kimberlé Crenshaw’s The Urgency of Intersectionality
- Layla F. Saad’s How Reading Books By Authors of Colour Helps Us Reclaim our Humanity
- Watch the Digital Exclusive: Nikole Hannah-Jones on Ida B. Wells’ Legacy in Journalism on WTTW

Getting Engaged
Petitions
Below is a selection of petitions that you can sign to help support one another. This month, there’s everything from demanding reparations from the American government, clemency and freedom for Black political prisons and proper COVID testing for frontline workers.
Sign Your Name In Support of:
- Pressuring the Biden Administration to offer reparations (starting with entry into the country) for those affected the Trump’s Muslim and African bans
- Speaking of pressure, you can also sign to encourage Biden to allow clemency for those who were released from prison thanks to the pandemic to remain out of prison
- Demand that Amazon support the safety of their workers by reinstating free COVID testing
- Below are a series of petitions in a Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) newsletter, “supporting the following Black political prisoners currently experiencing the indignity and harm of incarceration”:
- Bring Sundiata Home
- Free 82-Year-Old Prisoner Ruchell Magee
- Free Ashley Diamond
- Grant Clemency for Dr. Mutulu Shakur, a father, grandfather, healer, & human rights activist
- Support the organization, Stop AAPI Hate and Asian American Feminist Collective
Take Action
From protests to learning about various initiatives to learning more about groups doing antiracist work daily, there’s plenty of ways to get engaged this month!
Also, a day before this post was schedule to be live, two important events occurred: Russia declared war on Ukraine and Texas proposed a horrific bill against trans kids and their families. I condemn both of these actions and remain in solidarity with those fighting against it. I wanted to highlight resources to address both here:
Protect Trans Youth
- Check out this fundraiser for trans kids
- Write to demand this bill not be passed
- A thread of places to donate
Free Ukraine
- If you speak Russian or another Slavic or South Slavic language, consider signing up as a volunteer crisis translator
- Use this thread to support Ukraine financially
Get Engaged
- Support the initiatives of Black Futures Month, organized by M4BL
- Help support the Young Readers’ Edition of Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad by ordering a copy today!
- Protest against the Line 3 Pipeline
- Prepare for the Global Climate Strike on March 25th!
- Learn more about Local Power groups, in collaboration with M4BL’s Black Futures Month
- Support We Need Diverse Books
Donate
As always, I like to highlight different organizations, movements and areas to support financially, if you’re able. Also, I decided, after getting an unexpected raise at work and redoing my finances, to commit to $20 a month to a different organization, for as long as it’s feasibly possible for me.
This month, I donated to FIYAH Literary Magazine, a quarterly space for Black speculative fiction writers to write stories by and about the Black people of the African Diaspora.
Support Financially
- The National Black Doll Museum had to close in 2020. Donate to help it reopen!
- Support the Gerald A. Lawson Endowment Fund for Black and Indigenous Students: the goal of the fund is “educate and train more Black and Indigenous Game Developers, two demographic groups that have chronically been under-represented in the Games Industry.”
- Donate $28 to the ARD’s 28 Days of Black History series they hosted this past month
- Buy quilts made by the Women of Gee’s Bend
- Give to metoo, an organization striving to help survivors of sexual assault and violence.
- Learn about and support the Audre Lorde Project
- Help Naomi fill their classroom with Diverse Books!
- Donate to the FIYAH Grant Fund to help assist Black speculative writers.
- Support the UNCF to help Black students in College

Further Reading
If you want to go deeper than articles or blog posts, check out the non-fiction below. Then, check out fiction books by BIPOC and queer authors to enjoy (and my goodness, what a line up that is present this month in fiction!).
- Explore the ARD’s recommend poetry reading list
- How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
- Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism by Zillah R Eisenstein
- Dance on the Volcano by Marie Vieux-Chauvet
- Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
- I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
- Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight
- Will Do Magic for Small Change by Andrea Hairston
- The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
In Sum
Thank you for reading and engaging with this latest Allyship Check-In post! I hope you learned something new, deepened your knowledge about important issues and found different ways to get involved: whether it’s through educating yourself, supporting important work financially or supporting individuals in their efforts by sharing their content.
I think I’m going to look for an organization helping Ukraine or the Ukrainian people to donate to!
I think that sounds fantastic, Davida!!