So yes, I am proud to be the Board Chair for BLM GNF — and I am proud of everything my life experiences have taught me as I serve in this role on behalf of our community.

It seems that everything we do at the Foundation comes down to this: Are we investing in ways that build Black Power for Black Liberation? Are we holding, building, and moving these resources in integrity; in ways that are accountable to future generations?

We recognize that we are in a moment, a moment full of promise and peril. This is not new for Black people. What is new is the unprecedented resources under Black control that can be used to build Black Power for Black Liberation. This is an opportunity and a blessing, wrought by the work of those who came before us, by the organizing and leadership of BLM’s founders and leaders, and the amazing work of the Black Liberation Ecosystem at large.

So, let’s get into it.

Overall, BLM GNF — when viewed across the first two years of its incorporation — continues to be under the industry standard of spending by disbursing less than 30% of our resources in overhead costs. In fact, our organizational expenses have decreased — including consulting costs — by over $20 million.

We’ve been taking time to be intentional in our efforts to build an efficient infrastructure to run the largest Black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.

Last year we invested over $4.5 million into the Black community with our grantmaking. Through our grant programs, we support thinkers, leaders, creators, and organizations that are working for lasting change that results in significant improvements in quality of life for Black people.

After a record-breaking year of fundraising and grantmaking in 2020–2021, the latest 990 demonstrates continued efforts to put the organization on a track toward continued financial health and long-term sustainability.

This fiscal year’s tax filing reveals that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s finances remain strong, confirms the organization is investing in building up its internal workings and structures, and its Board Members have been responsible, proactive decision-makers of the people’s donations.

We are building an institution to fight white supremacy and reach Black liberation. Every dollar we spend is in order to reach that goal. Every staff member, consultant, and strategist we have on our team is for the sole purpose of helping us create a world that operates on the principles and values of abolition.

The truth of the matter is our transparency center holds tax documents and impact reports on how our organization utilizes its resources. This has always been available to the public. What these documents show, in great detail, is that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLM GNF) has disbursed more money to the Black community than any other abolitionist foundation — nearly $34 million dollars in the last two years — making BLM GNF the most impactful abolitionist foundation to date.

We’re dealing with constant (and quite frankly, scary) attempts from folks who claim they love Black people; but have spent countless time and resources on trying to dismantle and attack us. The media reminds us of this very real (and once again, scary) reality. But in a way that overlooks the truth and impactful efforts and work of the Foundation.

Most importantly, we have to stick together — because otherwise, white supremacy will win. And as far as I’m concerned, white supremacy winning is just not an option.

We will rise. We are rising. We are building trust. And we are here to stay.

Cicley Gay, BLM GNF Board Chair

College and university students have already begun venturing home or offline for their designated quarterly breaks. Those breaks were crucial for me.

I started my higher-education journey as a Junior College student at Riverside City College. I remember knocking on my mother’s bedroom door every Tuesday and Thursday to ask for gas money to get to school. Today, as a board member of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, I am proud to announce our Student Solidarity Fund.

The Student Solidarity Fund will provide half a million dollars of financial support to hundreds of current and former Black students, in addition to programming that’s helping to advance our community toward a world of meaningful relationships and liberation.

This is all very personal to me. My mother, who also attended the same junior college as myself, was the sole provider of my family for many years due to my father’s incarceration. I remember naively believing my options from the start were limited to where I believed my resources could take me. With no one in my immediate family having gone through the traditional college application process, upon returning from high school spring break, I began scrambling to apply to any school that would consider me for late registration as my classmates tore into their acceptance letters.

Although well intentioned, my family and I never had the “so where do you want to go to school?” conversation that typically comes with high school juniors and seniors. It was made abundantly clear there were no additional savings for books, a dorm, and or tuition.

At eighteen, I was determined to define my own future. I was motivated and ready to change the system that convinced me a good education was designed for the few who could afford it. While my FAFSA took quite some time to complete, the reality of how far that aid reached was another hurdle to overcome.

But still, as a student and recent graduate, I didn’t quit — even though I had many moments (like looking at Sallie Mae notices, that made me question whether the system I was a part of was truly set up for me to educate myself — if it could help me create a stable economic future for my family and me — or if I was another hamster in the wheel.) After all, my mother dedicated her life to her children, and I dedicated my life to graduating from a university.

I believe that those years of dedication, juggling being a full-time student and a full-time employee, prepared me for the hard work I do today. Being a first-generation college graduate, I understand the burden of student debt and how our broken higher education system refuses to center historical discrimination and the experiences of Black people navigating an unequal society. More resources are needed for Black scholars seeking to further their education.

The Student Solidarity Fund is a start to barrier reduction; however, we as a Foundation continue to call on elected leaders across the country to cancel ALL student debt and put a permanent pause on loan repayments.

While America remains one of the most-educated nations, I have seen first-hand the damaging effects of student debt. From forbearance to only being able to make payments towards the interest of the loan, many students like myself came to college in pursuit of “even-ing the playing field”. I, as many of you, could not free myself of the financial realities that dictated the pace of when I would be able to finish.

Once I transferred to Cal State LA, I learned about civic movements that brought about legislative change and social impact. I finally had the language to express my beliefs, and I was eager to go out into the world and apply what I had been taught. One problem stood in my way — how could I repay the loans while searching for work? That is why the Student Solidarity Fund is such a great initiative.

Unemployment rates are on the rise, the Black-white wage and wealth gap is getting worse, Black communities’ indebtedness is increasing, and the value of a four year degree is being questioned. Given this sobering reality, I believe it is our civic duty to ensure Black people who have committed themselves to the pursuit of a better life through education are supported.

I remain committed to manifesting an abolitionist world where Black people can thrive — including economically. Together, with your support and voice, we can (and should!) get in some GOOD TROUBLE.

From training as a field organizer and mastering the tools that my professors reminded me I had all along, I am a proud graduate. It’s been a few years since my schedule consisted of classes and papers, but there’s one thing that has remained constant: the need for the cancellation of ALL student debt.

Will you join me in this fight by sharing your student debt story?

Together we win.

D’Zhane Parker

What they failed to highlight was that America has a history of being America first, however, what they don’t tell you is that “America” is code for white people and Capitalism. This country, land of the free? They meant free markets, not liberation. The irony of it all, is that we cling so strongly to these holidays, because they provide time off from a structure that we so desperately want to escape from. We wonder, what is there to be grateful for in that? Are the holidays the most wonderful time because they are the only time of year that American culture allows us to celebrate and respect being human, celebrate rest, celebrate community, and embody abolitionist principles?

For BLMGNF and Kara Roselle Smith, Thanksgiving doesn’t exist just one day in November. Giving thanks and prioritizing community for us is practiced year round. On Thanksgiving, we encourage people to be still and allow space for remembering the truth of America’s founding, over the impulse of Black Friday consumerism and over-indulgence.

The story of Thanksgiving told by Kara:

Guised as a celebration of the forefathers, this time is widely marked by over-consumption of food and industries like sports that exploit Black and Brown bodies. But what are we really celebrating? Why are we celebrating them? And if not them, who should the thanks be directed towards?

For centuries now, the story of Thanksgiving has gone something like this: European Colonizers came over from Europe to escape British rule and create their own colony. When they landed in North America, they were met by Native Americans who shared with them the ways of life and they all sat down together and shared in a harmonious meal.

The actual story goes something like this: European Colonizers arrived and instead of attempting to live in harmony with Native Inhabitants of Turtle Island, North America, they sought to gain complete control over the land and Native people by any means necessary. When Natives rebelled against Christianization and didn’t concede to European demands, the Pilgrims resorted to violence, going as far as to use biological warfare, intentionally spreading smallpox, in pursuit for power. There was no harmonious meal, and Native Americans were not honored guests. The Dark Mark of Manifest Destiny by Klee Benally, inspired by John Gast’s American progress comes to mind.

The artist, Klee Benally writes: I took John Gast’s infamous 1872 painting that quite literally is the visual definition of manifest destiny and placed a “Dementor” from the world of Harry Potter to disrupt the existent pop-colonial narrative. In many ways these are complimentary fictions: a Dementor is a force that sucks all happiness from life and spreads a deep sense of hopelessness and despair, and “manifest destiny” is just invader/settler code for genocide.

Gast painted the original picture on commission from George Crofutt, the publisher of a popular series of western travel guides. It was widely disseminated as a commercial color print to encourage travel and “settlement.” Columbia, the personification of the United States, leads white settlers from the light-skied east to the dark and treacherous West. She lays a telegraph wire with one hand and carries a school book in the other. White farmers, seen on the right, have already settled in the Midwest. As Lady Columbia moves westward, indigenous people and a herd of buffalo flee from her and the settlers.

Though many are just learning about the myth that is Thanksgiving, Indigenous Peoples have long since known the true, oppressive story.

In lieu of celebrating Thanksgiving, many Native people celebrate the National Day of Mourning which officially commenced in 1970.

The first observance of Day of Mourning was in response to the rescinding of Wampanoag Activist, Frank “Wumsutta” James’, speaking invitation at the Massachusetts Thanksgiving Day celebration commemorating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower.

James instead took his voice to Cole Hill, a Pilgrim landing site, and spoke on Native Peoples’ true perspectives on the Thanksgiving holiday while standing next to a statue of Massasoit, the Sachem (chief) of the Wampanoag. From then on, The National Day of Mourning replaced the commercialized and myth ridden Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November for many.

The objective of The National Day of Mourning? To dispel the lies around the fabricated Thanksgiving feast, to educate the public on this country’s true history, and acknowledge Indigenous People, specifically the directly impacted Wampanoag people.

My care for this exists on both a basic human level and in being a Wampanoag woman. More specifically, an Afro Indigenous woman of both African American and Native American descent. The Mashpee Wampanoag are the Indigenous people of mainland Massachusetts and were the tribe so many scholars and books failed to mention. They are also my cousins. I’m Chappaquiddick Wampanoag and our homelands include Chappaquiddick Island, Cape Pogue, and Muskeget Island. Chappaquiddick Island is located on the easternmost shore of Martha’s Vineyard, known by the Wampanoag as Noëpe, meaning land amid the waters and streams. Better known today, unfortunately, for its political scandal and tragedies. Both of which many are willing to recognize before the tragedy that is the origin story of this country — built on the genocide of Indigenous Peoples and the enslavement of African peoples.

Thanksgiving, for me, doesn’t exist just one day in November. Giving thanks and prioritizing community is a practice that I participate in every day. Being still and allowing the space to remember over the impulse to over consume and forget. My mission all of the time is to connect with loved ones and honor the ones who loved us and this planet we call home, my ancestors. I’m so grateful for the documentation of history in its totality. And I’m grateful for the strength that resides in me that first existed in them. For what is a day of giving thanks if you choose to ignore those whose practices sustain us all?

Letting go of tradition can be difficult, but when that tradition isn’t rooted in truth and we cling to it because it provides time off from a structure that we so desperately want to escape from I wonder, what is there to be grateful for in that?

Learn more from Kara @kararoselles.

Nationwide, Black families and communities came together to celebrate and remember Juneteenth — just as we have, every year, since 1865.

For many of us, Juneteenth is a day to center Black joy, commemorate Black history, and enjoy good food on a summer day.

For much of this time, our celebrations have been siloed from our work, our colleagues, our neighbors, and from the rest of the world.

Last year, that changed.

2020 kicked off the next era of Black political power and liberation. Black people fought, as a collective, to bring the demands of our community to the forefront. The Movement challenged civil and governmental systems, from education, to policing and the carceral system, to professional sports, to acknowledge and eradicate anti-Black practices from the foundations of their respective institutions.

Federal recognition of Juneteenth was one of the many demands and initiatives we brought forward, both to uplift Black culture and Black power. As an observance that both forces us to acknowledge the wrongs of this country’s past while also celebrating our progress towards liberation, Juneteenth is, and deserves to be recognized.

Today, we are thrilled to observe the one-year anniversary of Juneteenth becoming an official federal holiday!

But it is clear that our work is far from over. Juneteenth represents our freedom, our liberation, our past, and our future. But we continue to grapple with the tension between celebrating freedom and justice and the continued struggle to permanently secure both.

We stay the course, protecting and cultivating more and more momentum towards liberation and joy for our people.

Even as we rejoice in our successes, we recognize that the sanctioning of our holiday rings hollow if our culture is further exploited by the relentless machine of late-stage capitalism.

Eight hours of “paid time off” means nothing if Black people are not liberated economically — or have structures and systems that ensure quality education, equitable public resources, or the basic human right of physical safety. We deserve to live, thrive, and realize our full potential — and pawning the commemoration of our emancipation for political capital or profits has no part in that fullness.

This year, on the first anniversary of Juneteenth’s designation as a federal holiday, it is imperative that our economy, government, and society demonstrate a true commitment to Black emancipation. We want, deserve, and are owed reparations.

Reparations, or “the act or process of making amends for a wrong,” contain five key conditions to meet the criteria laid out by the United Nations:

1. Cessation, assurances, and guarantees of non-repetition;
2. Restitution and repatriation;
3. Compensation;
4. Satisfaction; and
5. Rehabilitation.

In this pivotal historic moment, wherein Juneteenth’s memorialization intends to inspire change, we are — even at this writing — already seeing the exploitation and commercialization of our historic celebration of Black freedom by corporate America. We urge business leaders nationwide to, instead, wield your immeasurable influence for transformative good.

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court incorrectly gave corporations many of the same protections and rights that human beings are afforded under our nation’s laws. After this case, independent political expenditures of corporations became protected under the first amendment, freedom of speech being the most politically significant.

This legislative context and abundance of liquid assets make corporate America uniquely positioned to influence rapid reparative justice–-and we believe that corporations can and must pave the way for reparations in this country.

Today, we call upon the same companies who rapidly rallied behind the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020: Step into the fullness of your financial positioning and power. Act on your claims to value Black life via holistic reparations for Black communities and push for reparations. Doing so will ensure that your words are not more hollow, reactionary pledges exploiting Black death and culture.

While we are not opposed to Juneteenth recognition, we ARE opposed to corporate America using Black pain, Black joy, Black victories, and Black history as an opportunity to expand their pockets without investing back into OUR communities. Stop exploiting our holiday.

We demand that American corporations reckon with how they may have profited from slavery and take concrete steps that go beyond mere feel-good public relations efforts. American companies should announce their public support for reparations immediately. We know that many corporations have benefited from the legacy and continued oppression of Black people, and therefore they must do their part in making true reparations. We demand reparations for African descended people in the United States and beyond. While we prioritize the demand for reparations for slavery, we do not limit our demand for reparations to slavery. We believe demanding reparations only for slavery erases the reality that the United States has continued to exploit and harm Black people through convict leasing, sharecropping, Jim Crow, redlining, and other policies of structural discrimination and exclusion, and mass criminalization and incarceration through policies such as the “war on drugs.”

We demand that those who purport to join hands with us in celebration and lift up our culture align their word with real deeds.

Reparations NOW.

And a Juneteenth to remember for you, and yours — this year, and every year.

On Tuesday, October 26, Black Lives Matter joined fellow civil rights leaders to engage with and discuss tangible policy proposals to transform current approaches to public safety with senior officials from the White House and the Department of Justice.

While we appreciate the invitation to speak and discuss solutions, we call on the White House to be courageous as it moves towards Executive Action to move us towards the kind of transformation that this moment demands — the kind of transformation that the spirits of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Dijon Kizzee, Wakiesha Wilson, Andrew Joseph III, and so many others demand. A transformational approach to public safety requires that we not expend energy tinkering around the edges of a fundamentally unjust system, but we upend it and dare to imagine and build new systems that invest deeply in resources: like youth programs, good jobs, mental healthcare, housing…resources that actually make our communities safe.

The murders of Jonny Bonta, Andres Guardado, Mona Rodriguez, and so many others remind us that police violence is not only a Black issue. Still, police disproportionately target and commit acts of violence and murder against Black people. We must not confuse the impact that unjust policing has on society as a whole, with a strategy of deracialization, which invisibilizes the harm that Black people experience.

Priorities that we outlined in our recent meeting with the Biden-Harris Administration include:

End Qualified Immunity
We uplift the name #AndrewJosephIII, a 14-year-old child who was killed on February 7, 2014 in Tampa, Florida as he attended “Student Day” at the Hillsborough County Fair. His family has been blocked from a day in court for more than seven years through police claims of qualified immunity and sovereign immunity. We call for an end to the unjust legal doctrine of qualified immunity which allows corrupt police to evade responsibility.

Required Data Collection & Reporting
Establish a national database to which all law enforcement agencies are required to report data on stops, searches, arrests, uses of force, and killings, and make all data and analysis public.

Removal of Police from Schools
We uplift the name #MonaRodriguez, an 18-year-old student and young mother who was killed by Long Beach school police on September 27, 2021 as she fled an after-school fight. We call for the removal of all police from school campuses, and are joined in this position by organizations that include March for Our Lives, Students Deserve, and ACLU and are supported by research that demonstrates that the presence of police on campus does not create safer schools; resources like counseling, librarians, nurses, supportive services, and smaller classes do.

Automatic Access to Victims of Violence Crime Resources
Make families of those killed by police automatically eligible for victims of violent crime funds.

Family Notification Requirement for In-Custody Deaths
We uplift the name #WakieshaWilson, a 37-year-old Black mother who was killed inside Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center on March 27, 2016. Her family was never notified and her mother only discovered that Wakiesha died inside the jail after four days of searching. A family notification requirement would mean the immediate notification of families when their loved one is killed or dies in-custody.

Program Eliminations/Moratoriums

• Eliminate (or place a moratorium on) the Department of Defense 1033 Program;
• Eliminate (or place a moratorium on) the Department of Defense 1122 Program;
• Eliminate (or place a moratorium on) all Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program funding, especially funding that supports police in schools and the COPS Hiring Program;
• Eliminate the Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, which floods communities with law enforcement rather than services and encourages federal prosecutions for offenses carrying harsh mandatory minimums;
• Dissolve the DOJ Denaturalization Section;
• End civil asset forfeiture by DOJ agencies; and
• Eliminate (or place a moratorium on) life in prison or death sentence for juveniles (under the age of 18).

Advancing Life-Affirming Approaches to Community Safety
Incentivize alternatives to police as part of a fundamental reimagining of public safety in cities and states. Using an Executive Order, President Biden should establish a Division of Community Safety within the Department of Health and Human Services, which would focus on community safety using a non-carceral perspective — one that treats community safety as a matter of public health.

We call on the Biden-Harris Administration to support passage of the BREATHE Act, which divests from the systems that harm Black people and invests in our communities through education, health, housing, infrastructure, environmental justice, and economic justice. For years, advocates have asked policymakers to begin making a paradigm shift — one that invests in communities, not carceral systems, to keep people safe.

We must continue to uplift the importance of speaking the words “Black Lives Matter” and confronting the white supremacy embedded in this nation’s system in policing head on. Black Lives Matter will continue to fight, both in the streets and in the halls of government, until we build a world where our people can live and walk freely. We will continue to work alongside public leaders and remain a force in our communities throughout the nation to advocate for meaningful policies that reimagine and reform public safety.

We look forward to continuing to engage the government, to support transformative change and vigorously challenge elected leaders when they fall short.

From the time historian Carter Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926 up through today’s celebration of Black History Month, the goal has always been to recognize Black Americans’ prolific contributions that had been ignored, dismissed or diminished in textbooks and popular culture.

The point is to highlight the pivotal role we play in this country’s advancement — from science, math, politics, literature, arts and more — and convey that our influence on every aspect of society and culture has been greater than what we were taught in history classes.

The spirit of Black History Month goes beyond achievement. It is also about remembering and demonstrating that our lives and contributions are creative, industrious, transformative and joyful. Given the traumas of the last year, it’s important to call out that our experience is about more than the deaths we protest and the pain we hope to heal. Black life is so much more than that. We are not only triumphant and resilient, we deserve to be celebrated and valued. Our minds, our bodies, and our spirits are worthy of real investment.

As I have said before, the point of abolition is to build a better future — one that goes beyond “Black Lives Matter.” Abolition starts with the premise that our lives matter, but our movement is more than three words. WE are more than three words. Our march towards freedom, the one we started 400 years ago, doesn’t end when we matter. That is just the start.

Going beyond mattering requires vision and innovation. We are looking forward to pouring our resources, our labor, and our love into a world that centers thriving Black lives, through everything from policy to art and cultural spaces. We will invest in ourselves so that our achievements are renowned. Tragedies like the Tulsa massacre in 1921 remind us that this sort of proud, Black ambition intimidates some. But we will not let white supremacists steer us from our path. They don’t have a say in our liberation agenda.

There is so much more to our organization — and movement — than just telling the global community that our lives matter. We will never abandon our fight for racial justice and our struggle for liberation. But our vision for justice and liberation must include the pursuit of opportunities that heal, nourish, and rejuvenate our lives. I look forward to sharing more details about these efforts in the coming weeks and months in the spirit of not only surviving, but thriving.

The number seven holds power.

Many of us have heard the adage that the cells of our body are renewed and replaced every seven years. The reality is a little more complex. Some of our cells are replaced rapidly, others emerge in a crisis only to disappear, while others, like those that form our DNA, endure for our lifetime. But the average age of our cells is seven.

As Black Lives Matter celebrates its seventh anniversary, I’m energized by the significance the natural world has vested in the number seven. To know that this inflection point in our movement’s life is preordained in a way by nature, makes me hopeful, assured, and equipped as our good and necessary work persists, grows, and adapts.

For the first time, a majority of Americans — across ethnic and racial lines — have stated their solidarity with and support for Black Lives Matter. Our community has created the largest, most diverse civil and human rights movement in the history of both our country and our world.

But our enormous reach has not lessened our ability to adapt. For example, while the U.S. Postal Service fights for its right to exist, Black Lives Matter has launched several new and necessary programs — including one of the largest voter awareness and voter rights initiatives in American cultural memory. We remain engaged in long term work as well, pursuing landmark civil rights legislation in the BREATHE Act, reimagining public safety without police, and supporting Black artists who stand in solidarity with marginalized communities.

And yet, in the same breath with which I laud our achievements, I must acknowledge the missteps and the hard learned lessons of our movement. To become better, more accountable, and more transparent leaders, We — I — must reflect on and address the repercussions of our mistakes.

To this point, the urgency of Black Lives Matter’s work has dictated our form and function. Often, we have operated in “rapid response” — deploying people and resources to stem, both literally and metaphorically, the bleeding in our communities.

We have paid dearly for it.

We have leapt into the fray with inadequate funds. We have worked off half-drawn blueprints and roadmaps that led to untenable ends. We have exhausted the most self-sacrificing among us without providing adequate time to recover or a fully-realized vision for the long haul.

Much of this was beyond our control. After all, time was of the essence. State-sanctioned violence operates on a callused calendar. It’s counterintuitive to the needs and desires of freedom fighters. It wants us dead, not rested.

Still, I now recognize shortcomings I wish I had seen earlier in our movement’s history.

This July, I assumed the role of Executive Director for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation — the umbrella organization for our global movement. Many close friends and colleagues affirmed that no one was better-prepared for the job. But when I stepped forward in response to the call of my community and family, there were other voices to overcome.

These voices caused me trepidation initially, as I took up the mantle of our necessary evolution. Even as I reminded myself that Black women in leadership have always faced disproportionate scrutiny, taking on the onus of our successes and failures was a great deal to bear. And while I anticipated much of the pushback and conflict I have faced, I have still had to come to terms, in my own way, with the weight and implications of accepting this amount of responsibility.

Since its inception, Black Lives Matter has been a movement aligned to truth and justice. We have functioned as a decentralized, directly democratic community, activating and allying with fearless leaders. We have reimagined and begun to create a “next normal.” One that values, validates, and recognizes humanity’s interdependency with and reliance upon Black people and our ability to thrive. We have centered voices and people most marginalized by societies and states.

Some days, it helps most to return to the metaphor of cellular regeneration and renewal. To the reminder of what Black Lives Matter’s seven years symbolizes and have taught us. To our history and our accomplishments. To our origin story and the visceral reminders of where we have been.

An apt analogy for this is scar tissue. Some experiences — miscalculations, missteps, mistakes — are never fully replaced. Nor should they be. While other cells continue to grow around these visible markers of a life lived, the cellular makeup of our scars remain as testament to our full humanity and growth — a reminder of our ever-evolving nature. What remains too are the cells that make up our DNA, the core of what we are about. These cells never change.

At the time of this writing, our organization is undergoing a totalizing and unprecedented transition. If asked to summarize the hallmark of Black Lives Matter’s successes to date, I point unhesitatingly to the immense power of our grassroots apparatus. In that vein, an assembly of Black Lives Matter chapters have come together to build Black Lives Matter Grassroots (BLM Grassroots), a space to help the movements’ organizing flourish. BLM Grassroots will house the work of our grassroots organizing moving forward and Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation will remain a fundraising body, amplifier, and action oriented think tank for Black-led organizations. One of my goals as Executive Director of the Global Network Foundation is to ensure BLM Grassroots has the tools and resources it needs to strengthen our movement on-the-ground.

Over the past seven years our vision, imagination, and tireless work have grown from dreams and ideas into an organization that currently powers the largest social movement in history. We are winning.

And as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation evolves to become the capacity-building hub we need and deserve, I have a clarified vision for the future. A vision of a united family and community transforming our collective pain into joy, and channeling that inexorable joy into positive, permanent change for our elders, our peers, our children, and the generations to come. A vision of Black people everywhere realizing our divinity, wholeness, and birthright.

Scars and all. Always true to our core.

Now, our movement is facing threats like never before — and we must stand together in the fight against conspiracy theories, falsehoods, and disinformation. It is time to #StopHateForProfit.

Kailee Scales — Managing Director, Black Lives Matter Global Network

This time, let’s do this.

We can all agree that this time is different. The horror is different. The awakening is different. The response is different.

The collective shock and trauma of witnessing a figure of authority nonchalantly, yet brutally murder an unarmed man has changed all of us. Forever.

Racial injustice has been forced to the forefront of public consciousness, the sentiment both “How Did This Happen?” and “Enough is Enough.” The call for solutions is so thunderous that people everywhere are working overtime to show support for Black people.

This time has thrust us a looking glass and we don’t like what we see. We are galvanized to change. Organizers, activists, and movement leaders know that this is the moment we have been waiting for, this collective gaze upon racial inequality. So we are talking about everything — nothing is off the table. Health inequity, economic injustice, criminal justice reform — divestment in police and reinvestment in communities — issues once considered radical left, are penetrating the lexicon and influencing the mainstream.

As we interrogate Black oppression, online disinformation and misinformation, once a techy, heady concept that was easy to chalk up to leftist conspiracies, has galloped into view. Online disinformation corrodes our ability to exercise free power of choice by utilizing fraud, deceit, threat, or other ulterior forms of coercion. This insidious phenomenon has gathered momentum over the past few years — we see increasing incidents of fraudulent accounts on Facebook and other social media platforms working to confuse, distract, and ultimately discourage global citizens from taking progressive stands.

Domestic and international disinformation agents work to appear bigger and more relevant than they are. They misappropriate images of Black people and impersonate organizers and movement leaders in an attempt to cause chaos and harm to our communities. History shows us that organized disinformation threatens the public discourse and is a tried-and-true way to undermine the liberation work of champions for racial justice.

Disturbingly, during the 2020 primaries, we have seen repeated attempts to suppress the power of our vote through outright lies and bullying tactics. We have witnessed everything from direct voter disinformation on polling place closing times, to intentionally wrong information about how to vote. And this is no accident. In an election year, disinformation agents have clear marching orders — impact the election.

But this time, the response is different and weeks and weeks of anti-racism protests across the world have resulted in new intolerance.

Social media platforms like Facebook have been publicly criticized by civil rights leaders, their own employees, and big business for allowing disinformation to be consumed by their users. Demands for change began after Facebook refused to fact check or flag a series of Trump’s tweets, including one during the George Floyd protests that warned “looting” would lead to “shooting.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shirked responsibility, stating his belief that social media companies should not be “arbiters of truth.”

The #StopHateForProfit website accuses Facebook of allowing “incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others.”

This suggests that Facebook’s nearly $70B in advertising profits are ill-gained because their sheer reach makes them the most powerful source of disinformation on the planet. They’re choosing dollars over democracy and it is undermining our freedom and liberty.

Today, we at Black Lives Matter Global Network join the #StopHateForProfit campaign protesting Facebook’s inaction against disinformation and hate speech on their platform.

In addressing disinformation, we address the false information deliberately and often covertly spread (by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth. We protect our movement, our voices, and our lives from being manipulated and drowned out by right-wing conspiracy theories, foreign agents, and dangerous actors.

We will continue to amplify disinformation and hope that you will seek the most reputable sources and walk, eyes wide open, into Freedom Summer.

That way, hopefully, this time really will be different.

Kailee Scales — Managing Director, Black Lives Matter Global Network

George Floyd was killed on May 25th, when a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground, knelt on his neck, and squeezed the life out of his body for nearly ten minutes.

This public lynching was sadly one in a series of state-sanctioned killings of Black people over the past two weeks. Our hearts and our minds are with the family of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery.

Black people are dealing with so much right now. Despair, rage, pain, anxiety, disbelief. Some days it feels like our hearts and our souls are being ripped from our bodies. But in the midst of this chaos and confusion, we cannot allow America to ignore a hard truth: the police are out of control.

Over the past weeks, we’ve seen police terror against Black communities and Black allies break out all over the United States. Los Angeles, Brunswick, Indianapolis, Tallahassee, Minneapolis, DC, Louisville.

Black people live in constant fear of being killed by police, immigration agents, or even white vigilantes who are emboldened by state actors. The fear we feel is real.

More than 1,000 people are killed by police in the United States every single year. 220 lives were taken by police this year alone…

And Black transgender people experience violence at egregiously high rates, yet receive very little attention or justice.

There’s a reason for that. Modern-day policing institutions have their roots in slave catching. These systems were created to hunt, maim, and kill Black people.

George, Breonna, Tony, Ahmaud, and Dreasjon’s deaths are the result of centuries-old anti-Black attitudes codified into law, and a wild wild west approach to law and order meant to intimidate and control Black people, and line the pockets of wealthy white men.

And it’s worked. Today, on average the United States spends $100 billion a year on policing and another $80 billion on incarceration.

Over policing and economic injustice have left us with deep trauma that has impacted us for generations. We need a focused effort that cultivates an environment where Black people will not only survive but thrive.

It’s time to take on the systemic oppression that has brought us to this breaking point and repair the pain inflicted upon Black people in this country. It’s time to transform Black communities and build Black power. And that is why we must defund the police.

I get it, that’s a lot to take in at once. But it really boils down to three demands.

First, we are demanding that every State, city, and municipality spend less on law enforcement and incarceration. Period.

Next, we are demanding that lawmakers and candidates support reparations for all families of those killed and survivors of police violence.

And finally, we are demanding proactive investment into Black communities. It is not enough to defund the police, we need to put in place systems to uplift and protect Black communities.

And yes that means divesting from police in schools and investing in more teachers and counselors. It means divesting from the criminalization of mental health and providing mental health and restorative services. It means divesting from narcotics units and gang units and investing in community-led harm reduction programs.

If you want to take action in this moment of crisis join us in the fight to defund the police, text 24365.

Our organizers are on the front lines every day and need to build power and resources to effect change. Check to see if you live near a Black Lives Matter Global Network chapter in the US, Canada, or the UK. You can see a full list of our chapters on backlivesmater.com.

We will continue to offer information and resources to transform our communities.

It is time to imagine and create a radical vision for Black communities. It is time to claim healthy safe futures for our children, our elders, and ourselves. And, as always, we continue the fight for freedom, justice, and liberation.

About Black Lives Matter Global Network
#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. We support all Black lives including the Black queer and transgender communities, the disabled, the undocumented, those with records, women, and those all along the gender spectrum. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

Dé Bryant, Ph.D. — Professor and Director, Social Action Project, Indiana University South Bend. Member of Black Lives Matter-South Bend (dbryant@iusb.edu)

“I’m too busy to look up!! Have you even been paying attention to what’s happening to us out there?!” My sister in the struggle asked this in response to my wondering what type of clouds she preferred. The look on her face warned that unless I explained myself this conversation would be short because what point is there to speak with the delusional.

We had been discussing the compound, sustained traumas facing Black people in this historical moment. Deeply rooted, structural racism puts Black and Brown bodies on the line every hour of any given day. Supremacists are loose in the land, their sense of superiority exemplified by extrajudicial killings, their atrocities emboldened by leadership referring to the era of Jim Crow and segregation as “a time when America was great.” This is not news to any person growing up Black in America; however, in these times narratives that conflate social issues and criminalize Black people while absolving white supremacists have been weaponized. All aspects of our personhood — physical, psychological, and spiritual — are under a blatant attack.

This is the reality of the world in which I live even if it is not the just world for which my sister and I have been working. But I was not proposing magical thinking, ignoring the daily violence to stare myopically into the sky until the danger goes away or death takes us. My point was that we must be intentional about healing ourselves and our communities in the midst of resistance. Like the violence, the idea of self-care is not new. In Ready from Within, Septima Clark said: “I never felt getting angry would do you any good other than hurt your own digestion — keep you from eating, which I liked to do.” James Baldwin wrote in I Am Not Your Negro, “In America, I was free only in battle, never free to rest — and he who finds no way to rest cannot long survive the battle.”

These icons of the resistance articulated an essential fact about stress and burnout: the mind and body are linked. We have the science that proves it: cortisol, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine are all directly related to emotions. When stress, physiology, meets emotional state, the psychology, under prolonged and extreme conditions the resulting crash is called burnout. The corollary in communities and neighborhoods is stress, the physiology, manifested in glaring inequities forced into the limelight by the pandemic and when white officers kill Black citizens with apparent impunity. Rising rates of anxiety, depression, rage, and hopelessness are the psychology. If we are not intentional about healing, the crash is next.

This brings me back to the flabbergasted look my sister gave me at the mention of cirrus clouds. “How do we live and not die if we waste time looking up?” that look demanded. First, we must take care of ourselves. No one knows our personal needs better than we do, and “self-care” is about our individuality. Equally important is to acknowledge that we are bound to others in the struggle. Witness, how quickly events captured on Facebook Live! or TikTok become organized responses by activists on opposite sides of the country. That connectedness is an essential dimension of solidarity and also of the healing.

Challenge yourself to keep heading forward, but not at the expense of your health, sanity, or well-being. Routinely do a body scan to identify where you hold stress. Is it perpetually hunched shoulders, or an acidic stomach, or that endlessly bouncing knee? Allow yourself to feel those sensations so you learn to detect their presence, then pause to look up at the clouds. Create a moment of respite and release. Take time to feel whatever you are experiencing. It’s not therapy, it’s strategy.

When you’ve found your moment of peace, reach out to collaborators, friends, loved ones, families of victims. Lean into those crisis spaces where structural trauma dwells and grab hold of someone. Send a text, post a status, make a phone call. Celebrate the lives of those stolen with their families left behind. Tell their stories, say their names: Sandra Bland, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Logan. Find solace together in spiritual or religious practices of the faith tradition precious to you. Recognize that there is no disrespect in sharing a moment of joy together. That carrying on is not the same as forgetting. And then host a virtual dance party; log into the shared space Verzuz, holla for your artist of choice; create, play, rejuvenate.

To rest is not a break in your forward momentum. It’s just plain good health.

About Black Lives Matter Global Network
#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. We support all Black lives including the Black queer and transgender communities, the disabled, the undocumented, those with records, women, and those all along the gender spectrum. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.