On Juneteenth, Heed the Calls of Black Trans Freedom Fighters
On a day commemorating Black freedom, we, particularly non-Black people, must recommit to freedom for Black trans people.
Juneteenth: A Celebration Syllabus
Just as the Emancipation Proclamation meant nothing to the people who its message hadn’t yet spread to, Juneteenth reminds us that it takes work and time for the joy of liberation to reach everyone.
How to Start a Mutual Aid Fund
I know that collective care is the future because it has made my past and present possible. We must acknowledge that mutual aid is not original—or optional—for chronically dispossessed people and therefore, always already political.
24 Actions You NEED to Take to Help Trans Women of Color Survive
This isn’t just exhausting. This is intergenerational trauma, oppression, and maybe even genocide. This violence is specifically targeted against black and brown women, gender non-conforming folks, and especially trans women of color.
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of LGBTQ Employees in Major Victory for Trans, Gay Workers and Late Aimee Stephens
In one of the most major trans civil rights legal cases of our time and a huge milestone for legal precedent when it comes to LGBT employees generally, the Supreme Court has ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace, does apply to sexual orientation and trans status.
Queens Center for Gay Seniors Creates Phone Check-In Project, Connecting LGBTQ Elders and Youths During the Pandemic and Beyond
This incredible showing of support and care across generations makes us hopeful for what the future of the New York queer community will look like moving forward.
Extra, Extra!: Police Violence Continues; the Argument About What “Defund Police” Means Begins
Overwhelmed by the news? So are we, but here’s our effort at highlighting some important stories and discussions. This week’s Extra! Extra! continues to look at police brutality, the protests and what’s been accomplished in their wake, as well as a brief update on the pandemic.
How to Talk to Your White Friends and Family About Racism
As annoying as it is, probably, to hear it, you really have to lead with love. It’s not our responsibility to love people who hate us or wish us ill, but if those people are your friends or family, it is yours. If you genuinely care about your family and want them to be and do better, let that ground your conversation.
Showing Up For Black People Is a Duty, Not a Transaction
Real commitment to Black lives requires us to consider why we’re fighting and for whom. It’s time we ask ourselves: if our liberation weren’t intertwined, if your well-being weren’t tied to that of Black people, would you still defend Black life?
Raising Anti-Racist Kids: A Guide and Book List for White and Non-Black POC Parents
Protecting our children from hard conversations about race is actively aiding and abetting white supremacy. We can’t afford to stay complicit.
Also.Also.Also: 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests Are “Unprecedented In Scope” and Just Getting Started
In today’s link roundup: Minneapolis will dismantle its police department, Trump truly could just refuse to leave office, justice for Breonna Taylor, #8toAbolition, more on what defunding the police means, an interview with the “I yield my time” guy and more from the thousands of really important stories in the world today.
MedSupplyDrive Relief Work Started with COVID-19, Now Includes Support for Protestors
We cold-called and emailed hundreds of places, heart in mouth, praying for someone to be generous. And people came through, offering gloves, masks, and more.
Extra! Extra!: America Is Anti-Black, but We’re Fighting Like Hell to Change That
This week’s Extra! Extra! looks at police instigating even more violence at protests about police violence, can we defund the police altogether, Iyanna Dior, and the meaning of voting when America is inherently built on anti-Blackness.
Principles of Pride: Police and Prisons Do Not Belong in Our Future
Legacies intersect in this Pride month to remind us that defunding the police system is both a historically Black and historically queer demand, and that disruption and direct action can get that demand met.
Copwatching 101: Keep Your Eyes Open, Keep Your Neighbors Safe
The state and police as agents of it often surveil communities of color and immigrant communities as a tactic of control, reminding people they’re being watched so they stay in line; white people have the power to surveil police to the same effect.
![Support Black Community [illustration of a bag of money] Boost Mutual Aid Funds](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/feature-mutualaidfunds.png?fit=640%2C320)
Support Black Community With Your Money: A Living Index of Local Mutual Aid Efforts
This post is a living document. If you are looking to donate to vetted groups or individuals currently providing community care, we encourage you to use this list as a resource. And if you are looking for any variety of care – food, shelter, COVID-19 testing, or other organizing efforts – we hope these options will be a good starting place for you to find what you need.
Bed-Stuy Strong: How to Start a 3,000-Member Neighborhood Mutual Aid Network
“Nobody may come to help us in time; we are all we’ve got. We need to organize, quickly, online, and geographically.”
A Black, Queer Reflection on The Civil Rights Movement and the Unfinished Project of Freedom
The work of civil rights history is queer and feminist. It’s also a hard, rough, incomplete project.
How to Never Call the Cops Again: A Guide with a Few Alternatives to Calling Police
If we want to move towards a police-free, abolitionist future, we have to do everything we can create an abolitionist reality right now – which starts with not calling the police into our own communities.
#BlackLivesMatter: A Longform Reading List
Fifty years of words I liked reading and you will too! Authors include James Baldwin, bell hooks, Kiese Laymon, Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Toni Morrison, Bayard Rustin and Dr. Brittany Cooper.