Let this moment radicalize you

First of all, hello. If this is your first time here, welcome. This is a powerful moment to join the movement for racial justice. If you've been here for a long time, we’re glad to be in this with you, learning how to be actively anti-racist and fight for collective liberation.

It’s been a weekend of uprising throughout the country against the continued murders of Black people and police violence.

Again and again we have seen that police exist to protect the property, convenience, and comfort of white people at the expense of Black lives and livelihoods. This is not “safety.” It is white supremacy.

Each time a white woman like Amy Cooper puts on a performance of distress, each time a gentrifier calls in a noise complaint, and each time a white liberal critiques righteous rebellion because of property damage, they are flaunting and enforcing their white supremacy. White supremacy creates a system where white people can call on the state to disrupt their Black neighbors’ lives, even to the point of brutality and death, to avoid even a moment of discomfort or personal accountability.

White people have been raised to see the police as an all-purpose solution. This is an idea that has been increasingly reinforced in NYC with disastrous consequences. It is visible in the Mayor's proposed NYC budget, which responds to the pandemic by maintaining approximately $6 billion in NYPD funding while slashing $2 billion from social services, healthcare, and education. This is all while the NYPD has displayed ongoing brutality to New Yorkers during COVID-19 homeless sweeps and social distancing enforcement, roles that police officers are not trained for and should never have been assigned.

Now, as our city rises up in rage and mourning for Black folks including George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, David McAtee, Eric Garner, Delrawn Small, Saheed Vassell, and centuries of white supremacy, the NYPD is escalating with extraordinary violence.

When the police have been increasingly empowered with military equipment, bloated budgets, and an absence of consequences for repeated brutality and murder; when they have been directed to target Black, brown, and low-income communities; and when white people have been encouraged to see their violence as the “correct” way of handling every public dispute or social concern, this violence is the unavoidable outcome.

Let this moment radicalize you.

Commit to learning, unlearning, and taking action with accountability.

Here are a few pieces of recommended reading (or listening!) around policing and how to show up responsibly to protest.

** If you download for free, consider donating the cost of the book to a bail fund. See below.

We invite you to join SURJ NYC's chapter meeting on Thursday, and commit to taking daily anti-racist action and joining the long-term movement to dismantle white supremacy, internally and systemically.

Read on for more information on that, as well as other ways to show up.

In solidarity,
SURJ NYC

Bail Funds and Protest Support

While we’ve tried to keep this list up-to-date, several of the most prominent bail funds across the country are saying they’re received an influx of donations and urging folks to direct money elsewhere, and things are moving fast. So please do a little research to see if bail funds you’re supporting are still actively soliciting donations (most have Twitter accounts with up-to-date information), and prioritize bail funds coming from Black-led organizations.