To Stop, Listen, and Act: How You Can Help Protesters and Black Lives Matter Groups

Film and TV websites aren’t anyone’s source of primary coverage during times of civic unrest. We’re the ones you turn to well after the fact, when the barricades are gone and the National Guard is a vague memory and the movies and TV shows and documentaries come out, analyzing and synthesizing the crisis.

That is not now. At this writing, everyone is in the thick of this. The death of George Floyd last week in Minneapolis at the hands of police brutality sparked protests, both peaceful and violent, across the nation. Protesters are calling for justice from the police officers responsible for his death, and calling for the death of systemic racism.

Right now, this is dominating culture in America. This is what is defining the world we live in, and those of the creators we cover. And right now, the best thing we can do is listen.

White people talking to white people. More of this please. If you’re white and you believe yourself not to be racist, yet you don’t talk to your white friends like this or stand up beyond tweets for Black people… you simply aren’t who you think you are. pic.twitter.com/hUjJsZ0iFv

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 31, 2020

The look on a cops face when they realize they’re being filmed says everything. Rage and fear. Their life flashes before their eyes. A glance at a partner; unsure if they should stop the assault they’re commiting or go get the camera.
For them accountability is violent.

— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) May 31, 2020

It’s about respect & human decency and how we share that with each other. #ShowYouCarehttps://t.co/NqMDQSPeLX

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) May 31, 2020

We have been silent. Silence is not an option. pic.twitter.com/39Y6XPz3D7

— A24 (@A24) May 31, 2020

To be silent is to be complicit.
Black lives matter.

We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up.

— Netflix (@netflix) May 30, 2020

We’ve seen this in South Africa before. Beware of agitators and instigators who use legitimate protests to ignite chaos between protestors and police.

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) May 30, 2020

There are many ways you can help. Here are some of them. (Note: the Minnesota Freedom Fund and Brooklyn Community Bail fund are urging people to donate elsewhere, as they’ve each received an outpouring of donations.)

• The Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter is currently supporting organizers, endeavoring to adopt a “People’s Budget” that reallocates police funding to communities that need it. Donate via the Black Lives Matter LA website.
• Action Bail Fund, also organized byBlack Lives Matter LA, is supported by White People 4 Black Lives. 100% of donations go directly to support bail, fees, and medical costs associated with actions. Donate here.
• The Peoples City Council Freedom Fund is another Los Angeles offering. Per the fundraiser’s GoFundMe page, “As the mayor and city council have sought to increase the LAPD’s budget during a pandemic, and as police around the country continue to kill innocent Black people, we have taken to the street to protest the funding of state sanctioned murder. This fund will be used for supplies that will keep us safe, things that will amplify our noise, transportation for protestors support for other organizations, bail relief, and other necessary resources as we fight this battle.”
• Black Visions Collective is “a Black-led, Queer and Trans centering organization whose mission is to organize powerful, connected Black communities and dismantle systems of violence…through building strategic campaigns, investing in Black leadership, and engaging in cultural and narrative organizing.” Donate via the organization’s website here.
• The Brooklyn Bail Fund is “committed to challenging the racism, inequality, and injustice of a criminal legal system and immigration and deportation regime that disproportionately target and harm low-income communities of color.” Donate here.
• Free Them All For Public Health is raising money for protesters who have been arrested in New York. Venmo: @BailOutNYCMay.
• The National Bail Out is “a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration.” Donate here.
• Unicorn Riot is a non-profit media organization dedicated to fair, on-the-ground reporting on civil disobedience, police brutality and white supremacy. Donate here. Donate via the organization’s website.