To our friends and allies,
In this painful moment, we reaffirm loudly that Black Lives Matter. Not just in the context of the immediate violence we are witnessing now, but at every stage, and we should be continually supporting the work being done to make black lives full. We are sharing here an incomplete list of organisations, community groups, initiatives and businesses in the UK and US that have consistently supported black people to thrive. Support them, work with them, make use of them, and keep doing so long into the future.
The struggle for black liberation in the UK, the US and globally must be rooted in protecting and resourcing strength and joy in black communities. The work we do needs to contribute to a different kind of scaffolding and support for black communities, both local and global, that will build capacity, redistribute resources and wealth, and contribute to a legacy of hope, justice and creativity.
To the allies in our community, it is your job to step up and dismantle these systems of white supremacy. You need to challenge anti-blackness every single day. In your homes, in your workplaces, with your families, on your platforms. The work of being an ally is never ‘done.’ White supremacy and racism does not just manifest in overt violence. It is also the slow violence, the everyday, the habitual, the ongoing; the entitlement, privilege, power; the denial of access and resources. What you have been seeing and hearing over this past week in the news and on your timelines is a symptom of a deep rooted disease.
We have also compiled vital resources and information on how you can support black people in the immediate moment, which you’ll find further down.
We will keep adding to this page, so check back for updates in the weeks and months to come (because this doesn’t go away once the hashtags aren’t trending). If there are any other resources, organisations or groups who are working towards a just future for black communities that you’d like us to add to the list, get in touch with us at editor@skindeepmag.com or via any of our social media channels.
Non exhaustive list of organisations that are working to support black lives at every stage
Black Ticket Project – an award-winning initiative creating cultural access points for Black young people.
KIN – an initiative founded in 2017 that brings black activists and organisers together from across the UK to collaborate, strategise and support each other.
Voices that Shake – youth voices on arts, race, media & power, bringing together artists, campaigners and family to develop creative responses to social injustice.
Ubele Initiative – an African Diaspora-led intergenerational social enterprise whose primary mission is to help build more sustainable communities across the UK, through bottom up, community-based approaches.
May Project Gardens – an organisation that works with urban communities, to address poverty, disempowerment and access to resources and influence by reconnecting with nature for personal, social and economic transformation.
Wild In the City – supporting well-being through relationship with nature in London’s wild spaces.
Nawi Collective – a London-based black women and femmes vocal collective.
4FrontProject – youth-led organisation empowering the young people most directly harmed by violence and the criminal justice system to be at the forefront of a grassroots movement for change.
Freedom & Balance – an art college for the artist in everyone. Freedom & Balance believe that an art college done well can help you create impact in your world by asking the right questions in new ways.
Resourcing Racial Justice Fund – a coalition of people of colour (POC) innovators, change makers, activists, artists and social leaders dedicated to social change. It is a new UK wide-funding pool to support individuals and communities working towards racial justice.
Exist Loudly Fund – young queer black people deserve a space for joy, space for community, space to find chosen family and a space to explore their identity as being both queer and Black, without feeling like they have to minimise or hide any parts of themselves.
Plantain Papers – Connecting the diaspora worldwide. Plantain Papers isn’t a cookbook. Plantain Papers is a literary ode to plantain – a delicious fruit best-served cooked-and the people that eat it.
The Black Curriculum – a social enterprise founded in 2019 by young people to address the lack of Black British history in the UK Curriculum.
Black Minds Matter – treating mental health must be a priority in the fight for equality and welfare of black people in the UK.
Bounce Cinema – they show, make & support film, and they’re launching a programme of mentoring, training and film education to support black people into film.
Black Girls Camping Trip – centring the wellbeing of black women through tailored outdoor retreats. Check out their fundraiser here.
African Caribbean Medical Mentors – an organisation set up to realise the potential of current and future African and Caribbean healthcare professionals.
Young Historians Project – led by young people and encouraging young people of African and Caribbean descent to explore their history.
56 Black Men – Their vision is to see a world where black men are spotlighted for positive things as oppose to negative and to help create a world where black men feel adequately represented, empowered and heard.
Decolonising Contraception – a Black & POC led collective that is thinking differently about sexual health & striving for reproductive justice. You can donate directly to their collective here.
Land In Our Names – LION seeks to uproot & disrupt systemic issues of land as they pertain to black people in Britain. They address land justice as a centre point for issues around food insecurity, health inequalities, environmental injustice & widespread disconnect from nature.
Black Land & Spatial Justice Fund – over the years, Black people have found a number of ways of organising to collectively preserve, protect, amplify and celebrate their spaces. This fund is all about investing in bold infrastructure and radical reclamations of our environment.
This is a doc of UK black-led racial justice organisations doing year-round work.
Resources that are immediately useful
US focused resources:
Black Lives Matter – collation of resources and ways you can support the struggle, as well as key information for protesters which is being constantly updated.
You can split a donation to all the bail funds, mutual aid funds, and activist organizations listed on this page, or allocate specific amounts to individual groups.
National Resources List – collation of jail support and legal services, advice for protesting and social media, petitions and education, bail and memorial funds, mutual aid groups, as well as international solidarity and resourcing.
Letters for Black Lives is a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness in families and communities.
A letter to Korean American parents, written collectively by young Korean Americans in Atlanta as a means to engage first-generation parents in conversations about #BLM. Translated by Yuna Chang.
UK focused resources:
Solidarity & Education – a list of petitions, places you can donate, film recommendations, and reading lists which are being updated daily. They have also created a flyer you can print out and distribute amongst your communities, which you can download here.
Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan (AKA @thebrownhijabi) has created this resource for unlearning white supremacy and practicing solidarity in anti-racist work to disinvest from anti-blackness (esp for a South Asia in UK perspective).
Black History Month Library – a google drive that has the works of activists, writers, artists and thinkers like Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Rosa Parks, Malcom X, James Baldwin and many more. It also has Black film scripts, Black liberation music and Black Panther newspapers.
This is a list of anti-racist resources intended for white people to gain a deeper understanding of racism and the anti-racist work that needs to be done.
