Allyship Check-In No 31

Last Updated on November 28, 2022 by ThoughtsStained

Welcome to the latest in my Allyship Check-In series! This series shares resources to help each of us live more antiracist lives. It contains articles, blog posts, multimedia, book recommendations, petitions and more.

These resources are curated by my own research and by sharing resources I’ve learned through, from various organizations, like: Anti-Racist Daily, Prism, The 19th, them and more. I hope this Allyship Check-In allows you to find something below that speaks to you!

Also, please consider supporting these organizations above. While I am simply linking up and sharing articles, they are the ones doing the work: the research, the reporting, the writing, the editing, the labor.

Let’s support their work, especially financially, so they can continue to do it.

Table of Contents

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Series Background

I started this Allyship Check-In “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

This month’s Allyship Check-in is, as usual, heavy with reading material. This month, it includes: midterm results, attacks on queer communities, education barriers, strikes and more.

Readings

Videos, Podcasts and Media

I’m trying to include more multimedia content within each Allyship Check-In, since I know not everyone enjoys articles like I do! Here’s what I engaged with this month:

Multimedia

Watch Dove’s short series on the #RealCostofBeauty, over on YouTube
Listen to the next episode of People over Plastic
Watch this opinion video in NYT’s “Empty Classrooms, Abandoned Kids: Inside the Great Teacher Resignation” video

Getting Engaged

Petitions

Now that we spent the first part of this Allyship Check-In becoming informed, now it’s time to take action. Here’s a selection of petitions you can sign and make your voice heard.

Sign Your Name In Support of:

I shared this petition before, but if you haven’t signed yet to support the CROWN act and end racial hair discrimination, please do!!
Sign Your Name: Pause Student Loan Payments Until Debt is Actually Canceled

Take Action

On top of learning and signing petitions, I always want to include ways within this Allyship Check-In series to get even further engaged.

Find ways to deepen your involvement and support those groups, people and initiatives below already doing this work!

Get Engaged

Use this guide to help plan how to protect yourself and others during election cycles
Following the resources here, help pressure Biden to actually cancel the debt he campaigned on canceling
Call your representatives and demand their support of the COVID-19 emergency funding request

Donate

As always, I like to highlight different organizations, movements and areas to support financially in each Allyship Check-in, if you’re able. Also, I decided to commit to $20 a month to a different organization, for as long as it’s feasibly possible for me.

This month, I donated $20 to the Harper Union Strike Fund to help support striking workers continue to stay on strike until their demands are met.

Support Financially

Black Feminist Future: an organization that “strategiz[es] to advance and support movements led by and serving Black feminists, including reproductive justice, ending patriarchal violence, and defeating misogynoir.”
Women Mobilizing to End the War: a “global coalition of women’s peace organizations calling on the United States, North Korea, South Korea, and China to end the Korean War, sign a peace agreement, and to include women in the peace processes.”
Native American Rights Fund: a non-profit organization meant to “protect Native American rights, resources and lifeways.”
Anti-Racism Daily (the ARD): support their daily newsletter, that has expanded to include video series, a podcast, a banned book club, courses, trainings and more, by donating so they can go another year!
Landback: is “a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands”
Donate to these funds to help support families and victims from the Colorado Springs Club Q Mass shooting, as organized by this Prism article by Lara Witt:
- The Colorado Healing Fund activated a fund to support victims of the Club Q tragedy
- Support for the Club Q Families and Survivors, organized by Faith Haug with LGBTQ-owned auto repair shop Good Judy Garage
- Victims of Club Q Colorado Springs Mass Shooting, organized by Greg Resha (Kyree Myst), a former Club Q employee

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.

As we near the end of 2022, I hope we can find bright spots and ways to fight for–and support–each other. The world continues to be challenging and often dark. But together, we can do this.

A custom artowrk signature that reads, "Onward to Adventure, Nicole" with a feathered quill and inkpot bordering it.