Wintermute for Black Lives Matter

Speculative fiction is often used as a pathway to express ideas and opinions about the larger realities that surround us and the current movements of our time—as you may have understood in Dark Colors. Today we face an obstacle that is terrifying and seemingly insurmountable. But bit by bit, we can try our absolute best to chip away at the lopsided foundations of our nation and force change through unrelenting and collective action.

There are countless ways you can help. Here are just a few of them:

1. NEVER believe or republish anything blindly.

 Especially on social media. Always fact-check and do your research. This goes for all resources, even this list itself.

2. Educate yourself, and the people around you.

In the midst of all this divisive action, you might feel too fast-paced to watch a long movie, or read a book. However, educating ourselves in real-life,with hard facts, is the most infallible way to foster change in everyday life and build a defense against the constant bombardment of false or twisted truths from all sides. [DISCLAIMER: I am NOT familiar with every single book/movie/podcast here, and am listing them based on multiple sources. However I tried to list mostly materials that I have read, seen, or watched.]


Books 

Ahistoricism, education, race:
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W Loewen
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Mass incarceration, criminalization:
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (autobiography)

LGBT+:
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

Literature, black feminism:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (autobiography)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (fiction)


Films

I Am Not Your Negro (documentary, James Baldwin)
13th (documentary, mass incarceration)
Just Mercy (legal drama/biography, Bryan Stevenson)
When They See Us (series on Netflix)
The Hate U Give (drama, police brutality)
Hidden Figures (historical, NASA)


Podcasts

About Race
Seeing White
Code Switch 

3. Sign petitions, donate, call/text, and vote.

Petitions

Educating Our Children On Racism Through the School System
A talk about modern racism, police brutality, mass incarceration, and more are discussions sorely missing in school classes across the US.

Justice for Breonna Taylor
She was gunned down 8 times in her own home. Eight times. No one was charged.


Donate to:

Black Visions Collective
Reclaim the Block (organizes Minneapolis movement of funds from police to other city budget areas)
The Innocence Project (DNA testing, etc to exonerate the wrongly convicted)
Unicorn Riot
Equal Justice Initiative (led by Bryan Stevenson, nonprofit based in Alabama that gives legal representation to prisoners wrongly convicted or who cannot afford it)


Call/Text

Text JUSTICE to 668366
Leave a message at (502) 574-2003 to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, to the Louisville mayor
Text FLOYD to 55-156


Lastly, VOTE if you are old enough!

4. Support black-owned businesses and products.

Here are t-shirts you can buy to support Black Lives Matter protests.
Here are 77 black-owned brands, ranging from beauty to fitness, that you can support at this time.
Buy from your local, black-owned businesses.

5. Call out racism—from family, friends, and even strangers.

You might've heard: it's not enough to be not racist anymore. We must be anti-racist. 

It can be extraordinarily difficult to bash heads with loved ones or contradict beliefs that you have grown up believing and supporting. But it must be done. Don't tolerate non-black friends or family members who say the n-word, spread racist sentiment, etc. If they are ignorant, prove them wrong with facts. If they are in denial, chip away at their refusal to see the truth. Little by little, we must change our mindsets. Initiate discussion. Chase after inaccuracy.

America is a nation of immigrants. Whatever our skin color is, many of us hail here from different countries and cultures. If you find loved ones, especially older family members like parents and grandparents, cannot understand the issue, try and teach them to empathize with the black community. As immigrants, many of us know the feeling of not belonging, of feeling distinctly different from the entity that is America. Not only does the black community feel this separation, but they are also being persecuted and criminalized by a system built to do so. They are facing death. We must act. 

This list is just a small part of all the things you can do to contribute.

-Wintermute