Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” It is with that prompting that Disability Rights Washington issues this statement deploring the recent and past violence against Black people in our country.
DRW recognizes the disproportionate impact of state violence and police brutality against the Black community, including Black people with disabilities. The disability rights movement is inseparable from the human rights movements for racial, economic, and gender equity. We recognize that we need to take an intersectional approach to change by centering the experiences of people of color with disabilities in our fight for justice.
Our work is rooted in the firm belief that all people deserve respect, dignity, and self-determination. As long as racism permeates the systems and institutions that make up America, we will fall short of the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals for which we strive and Black and Brown people, including people with disabilities, will continue to be harmed and killed by racist institutions and actions. But we cannot stop at pointing a finger at the failings of others.
For the many of us who work within the social justice movement and benefit from white privilege in a place like Seattle, Washington, it is not a bold act to speak out against an injustice as horrific as the killing of innocent Black lives. Unlike Colin Kaepernick, we don’t risk losing the work that we love. Therefore, as important as speaking out is, it is not enough to issue a statement. We must do more and it needs to start at home. We must look internally to the structures that we influence and control and commit ourselves to ending the racism that exists within us as well. That is what we intend to do.
Resources
Created by Rooted in Rights, a Disability Rights Washington program. View original post on the RiR website here.
This page will be updated as more information is made available.
Last Updated: June 10, 2020
This page was created to serve as a central place for people looking to support the movement to end violence and systemic racism towards Black people. Whether it’s donating to organizations that contribute to Black liberation, learning new strategies to become a better ally, or purchasing goods from a Black-owned business, there are many ways to make a difference.
Note: some resources are specific to Washington state.
Advocate from Home
26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
A Nervous Wreck’s Disabled Guide to Stepping Up
Allyship In Action: How Managers Can Support Black Employees Right Now
Building Effective Allyship Skills is Critical: Here’s How You Can Start
Community Access (Captions, Transcripts, Image Descriptions) Facebook Group. People who need access to transcripts, captions, image or video descriptions can post a specific source and other members of the group can make the access happen.
How to Be an Activist When You’re Unable to Attend Protests
How HR Can Support Black Employees Right Now
Letters for Black Lives. Join an existing translation effort for the 2020 letter. Check out translations and recordings of the 2016 version of the letter.
@ProtestAccess on Twitter: tag this account in Black Lives Matter related audio or video recordings that need captions and/or transcripts.
‘Standing in the gap’: One Part of Allyship That Gets Overlooked
Twitter thread: tagged list of Twitter users who are providing captions for content related to Black Lives Matter.
Twitter thread: list of ways to support protestors from home aside from donations and petitions.
We Need to Talk About How Media and Creatives Portray Black People This article includes a list of 13 action steps for the creative community, content producers, and leaders of agencies.
What Companies Can Do to Combat Systemic Racism Against Black Colleagues in the Workplace
Donate to Funds
The Bail Project‘s National Revolving Bail Fund provides free bail assistance to low-income individuals who are legally presumed innocent, and whom a judge has deemed eligible for release before trial contingent on paying bail. The Bail Project operates in jurisdictions across the county, including Spokane.
Black Lives Matter Seattle – King County Freedom Fund supports the immediate release of people protesting the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Manuel Ellis (May 2020). Any remaining funds will continue to be used for future bailout efforts as an ongoing community bail fund project.
Know Your Rights Camp‘s mission is to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization, and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders. Know Your Rights Camp also provides legal resources through its Legal Defense Initiative.
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund fights for racial justice through litigation, advocacy, and public education.
Northwest Community Bail Fund provides cash bail for people who are unable to pay due to poverty and who are charged with crimes in King and Snohomish Counties and have no other holds. NCBF also provides support to navigate the legal process with the aim of reducing pre-trial incarceration and its consequences, reducing the pressure to plead guilty.
WA Therapy Fund is raising money for at least 100 Black people in Washington state to have access to free mental health services. Fund organizer Ashley McGirt is a Black author, speaker, and licensed mental health therapist servicing Pierce and King Counties. She is proposing that non-Black allies donate money to pay for the therapy for Black people.
Where to Donate to Help Black People with Disabilities
Learn
Anti-Racism Resources for White People
Black Lives Matter and Disability
Disability Visibility Project – Episode 78: Hate Crimes
Disability Visibility Project – Leroy Moore Jr. and Keith Jones Interview
Free Library of Writing from Black Activists and Scholars
Resources for Race, Equity, Anti-Racism, and Inclusion
Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People, A Disability Justice Primer book and digital download
We Can’t Breathe: The Deaf & Disabled Margin of Police Brutality Project
Support Businesses and Organizations
Africatown Community Land Trust advocates for community ownership of land in the Central District that can support the cultural and economic thriving of people who are part of the African diaspora in the Greater Seattle region.
Abundance of Hope provides at-risk youth with quality basic care needs, education, community resources, case management, advocacy, transitioning skills, and goal-setting meetings.
Black Dot Seattle connects Black entrepreneurs, creatives, and technologists through co-working space and workshops.
Black Prisoners’ Caucus promotes cultural growth and provides incarcerated men and women the tools and platform to confront social issues that perpetuate discrimination, inequality and oppression among prisoners and poor communities of color.
CD Forum empowers Black artists and builds community through art.
Creative Justice NW builds community with youth most impacted by the school-to-prison-(to-deportation) pipeline. Youth and mentor artists attack systemic issues that contribute to oppression, while building healing-centered spaces that strengthen the protective factors that help us all to thrive.
Community Passageways (CP) is a Seattle based nonprofit founded in 2017 with a vision for zero youth incarceration. As a felony diversion and prevention program, CP is leading the way in reimagining and actively creating an alternative to today’s criminal legal system.
Epiphanies of Equity, LLC provides Diversity, Social Equity, Inclusion (DEI) consulting and Intersectional Disability justice advocacy.
Hilltop Urban Gardens is a community-based urban agriculture, justice, and equity organization in Tacoma, WA. HUG is led by and centers economically poor people and people of color in their work and leadership.
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute celebrates, nurtures, preserves and presents African American and Diaspora performing arts, cultural wealth and iconic legacies.
Liberation Medicine School is a growing collective of AfroTGNC, AfroQueer, and AfroIntersex medicine-seekers and medicine-makers on a radical mission: to create a decolonial, indigenous-rooted, autonomous, and collective care-driven medical system that is dedicated to the healing needs of the diasporic Black LGBTQI+ community.
Loren Miller Bar Association is a Washington statewide organization and the local affiliate of the National Bar Association (NBA), which is the oldest minority bar and the largest organization of African-American attorneys in the United States.
NAACP – Washington state branches.
Northwest African American Museum‘s exhibitions and programs feature the visual arts, music, crafts, literature and history of African Americans in the Northwest.
Not This Time! was formed by Andrè Taylor after a pair of city police officers fatally shot his brother, Che, in 2016. Not This Time! serves communities impacted by systemic violence, especially police violence. The Seattle-based non-profit also successfully backed Initiative 940.
Nurturing Roots is a Black-founded community garden in south Seattle. They educate community members about eating and cultivating healthy food, providing resources to support a healthier environment for youth and families in communities of color.
Seattle | King County – Equity Now! This campaign will be an 18-year campaign to bring the Black community in King County to true equity (i.e., homeownership, wealth, mortality rate, college admissions, organizational control, etc.) by 2038 – the 175th anniversary of the emancipation proclamation and the 75th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.
**Trigger Warning: the petition page linked at the bottom of the Seattle King County Equity Now donation page has an illustration of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man.
Seattle Urban League Young Professional Chapter supports emerging local leaders by providing opportunities for personal and professional development, networking, volunteering and leadership.
The Noble Foundation is a community-based, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring marginalized communities gain the connections, knowledge, and empowerment to build a more just and equitable society.
The Postman Seattle is a mailing services and mailbox rental business in Seattle’s Central District opened by husband and wife team KeAnna and D’Vonne Pickett. D’Vonne’s great-grandfather, Jacques Chappell, worked as a United States Postal Service mail carrier in the Central District for 37 years. His family has lived in the Central District for five generations.
The Tacoma Urban League is devoted to empowering African Americans and other disenfranchised groups to enter the economic and social mainstream.
Troop 008 serves the Rainier Valley community in Seattle, WA and is an active unit in the Thunderbird District of the Chief Seattle Council, Scouts BSA.
Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle provides support, services, programming, and opportunities related to education, housing, workforce development, health, and civic engagement.
Wa Na Wari creates space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection.
Washington Building Leaders of Change (WA-BLOC) ignites transformation and builds leaders of change through revolutionary education and social justice leadership development.
DIRECTORY: Black-Owned Businesses
LIST: Black-Owned Businesses & Restaurants in Seattle
LIST: Social Justice Fund Northwest’s Black-Led Grantees
EVENT: All proceeds from June film screenings at Northwest Film Forum will benefit the Black Lives Matter Seattle Freedom Fund, Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network, and other organizations to be announced. In partnership with Three Dollar Bill Cinema and Black Cinema Collective.