What Is Your Move?
From the desk of: Courtney DeAngelis
As a team, we are all individually doing our part during the Black Lives Matter Movement. We want to educate ourselves, listen, understand and ensure that there is change. We are coming together to join the fight to defeat systematic racism and abolish the racial injustices that have taken place for far too long in America and other places around the world. At AE Events, we strongly believe people should not have to suffer discrimination and prejudice due to the color of their skin.
Here is what my team and I are doing during this movement in hopes to make a difference:
Courtney:
Educating myself and signing Petitions: I am researching and educating myself on the changes that need to be made in America to create a safe, united country to live in. As a white woman, I find it incredibly important to research and understand how I can acknowledge my privilege and use it to support people of color. I have signed many petitions that need signatures to help make these changes.
Donating and Supporting: After doing a lot of research on what organizations need help to support people of color, I have donated money to those that I feel will make the changes that are needed. I have also looked into multiple black-owned restaurants and businesses, and I support these businesses as much as I can. Here is a really great resource (created by @blackownedbos) that lists so many black owned businesses that YOU too should support! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T4zsXdFwJWxzu_LPdvaG6zmIiANySrv3JL7hbDHpl9o/edit#gid=999794404
I have found some really helpful websites, accounts, and other great resources that are helping me educate myself and my peers.
Phoebe:
Reading: I know there is so much information out there and it is sometimes information overload. I wanted to pick just a couple things that I know I could do. I started with listening to this book on tape - it is the first book on tape I have listened to and I really like it because I think his voice is extra powerful hearing him read it.
Click through to listen
Protesting: I have been going to some of the Boston protests. I understand protests are not for everyone, and they can be scary during the times of Covid, but I felt the need to go to the ones I have been to, and they have been beautiful in their own way. Seeing so many people show up for such an important cause has been eye opening.
Jess:
Listening and Educating Myself: speaking to my friends of color (all of whom are also immigrants) about what’s going on and listening to their experiences and their truth. Listening to podcasts and short clips from Corey Booker, Don Lemon, Tarana Burke, Van Jones, and others about the movement and how I can help it catch fire.
Adopted a State to Empower Young Voters: this is really easy to do. Visit https://www.mass.gov/topics/voting to register to vote. I don’t live in a “battleground state”, but that doesn’t mean my voice can’t help. I can support organizers, volunteers, and candidates in key battleground states. I’ve adopted Michigan and Pennsylvania. Michigan is where Trump won by the smallest margin in 2016, but could be one of our best chances to flip for 2020. Pennsylvania is my dad’s home state; and I want this state to be on the right side of history.
Caitlin:
Educating Myself: I have been educating myself in several ways during the Black Lives Matter movement. Reading, signing petitions, making donations and talking with friends have been the main ways that I have been educating myself on this matter and doing my part. One podcast episode that I really loved was ’The Importance of the Nationwide Protests over George Floyd’s Death’ by Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay. They made some really eye opening comparisons and it was a good learning resource for me.
Reading: I also love to read and the book that is next on my list is White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. However, I came across THIS article on Cosmopolitan the other day and it was really eye opening. It made me realize that I shouldn’t just be reading books about racism, I should be reading books about Black people living too.
Christine:
As a business owner, I am having multiple conversation about ways we can be part of the change. Listening to what the staff is feeling, understanding these emotions, and finding ways as a company we can be part of the change.
I am at lot older than most of the staff, and what saddens me most is that racial injustice still exists in 2020.
Wishing for Peace – Finally
What is Your Move During the Movement?