Now, more than ever Community Living Campaign must strengthen our commitment one of our core values: “Building Communities that Value Fairness, Equity and Justice.” Creating and updating this website over time as a resource for staff, participants and colleagues is one small step to toward this end. We welcome suggestions and additions – email email@example.com.
And not sure where to start, try this 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-building Challenge developed by the American Bar Association.
Understand the Black Lives Matter Movement
If you’re new to learning about the Black Lives Matter movement, start with some of the following videos or articles.
- What’s Wrong with Saying “All Lives Matter” (2 mins video)
- Black Lives Matter Movement (3 mins video)
- What the World Needs to Know About Black Lives Matter (2 mins video)
- James Corden and Reggie Watts Discuss Black Lives Matter and more (well worth watching the whole thing. 14+ min.)
- Any Daily Show with Trevor Noah, but particularly May 29 on George Floyd, racial injustice and the social contract.
- Police Brutality & Defunding Movement: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
- Importance of Saying Their Names – June 14, New Yorker Magazine
Dedicate yourself to being a better ally to the Black community with this excellent Justice in June plan for reading, listening, viewing, and action created by two best friends. It includes learning plans for 10, 25, and 45 minutes per day.
We continue to look for more resources about Black Lives Matter in languages other than English. One resource is Letters for Black Lives, started by a group of young, Asian American and Canadian organizers to translate a letter explaining the importance of Black Lives Matter to their families. There are currently translations in over 30 languages. They also offer a helpful culturally-aware conversation guide. See more Resources below.
Honor the Struggles and Contributions of Black Leaders in San Francisco
Our Black neighbors have been leading the struggle against systemic racism for many, many years. By learning about and honoring their contributions and struggles, we can gain more empathy and understanding about why ending racism, discrimination, and oppression is more urgent than ever.
- Through SF Senior Beat, learn about Charles George, Katherine Campbell, Jimmye Bynum, and Bernard Lewis, with more stories on the way. Another project, just beginning, is 80 Over 80, which is looking for 80 San Franciscans 80 and older. Know a Black neighbor or colleague whose story needs to be told? Nominate them at 80over80.org.
- We will work to continue increasing online sessions and workshops that feature leaders in the Black community, including CLC’s Resilient Neighborhood series.
Listen and Continue to Learn
As an organization, Community Living Campaign will increase our efforts to listen and learn how we can use our privilege to be better allies in advancing fairness, equity, and justice for black, indigenous, and other people of color.
- Continue regular discussions with staff to shape and evaluate our efforts as an organization.
- Engaged skilled facilitation to deepen the discussions and provide a safe place to explore the intersectionality of movements for justice
Support “On the Ground” Activists Calling for Police and Justice System Reform
- The murder of George Floyd not only catalyzed a movement around the world, it brought into focus the deaths of so many other Black people and the history of sanctioned violence against Blacks and their communities. We support Black Lives Matter in their call to justice and will encourage people to “show-up” in person and/or online.
- We support the reforms developed by the President Obama and the 20th Century Policing Task Force.
Raise Public Awareness with Staff and Our Wider Community
- Keep a focus on how racism and discrimination impact older adults and people with disabilities in San Francisco’s Black community.
- Black and White Americans Live in Two Different Americas as highlighted in The Washington Post.
- Racism is a Public Health Issue . The SF Dept.of Public Health’s Report on Black Health details how poor health outcomes start with the young and end up with disproportionate rates of diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular health in older adults.
- COVID-19 –A newly-published study reveals Black patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized for treatment than non-Hispanic white patients also diagnosed with the disease, and cases are much more severe. Black Americans are more than twice as likely as other Americans to die of the coronavirus
- Poverty. African Americans make up only 6% of San Francisco seniors, but account for 10% of the city’s older adults living in poverty.
- Housing and Homelessness. In a city where the homeless population is 37% Black, even having a job doesn’t mean you can afford housing. Read about the disproportionate toll of homelessness.
- Environmental Racism. Black communities live with more environmental injustices and are more impacted by climate change. Read about climate activism and racial justice in the Bay area .
- Police Violence. Black people are much more likely to be victims of police violence and disproportionate enforcement, leading to a lifetime of living in fear.
- Overall Well-Being. Learn more about how Black seniors and others are doing in San Francisco in the Dept. of Disability and Aging Services Needs Assessment
And Commitments Related to Our Existing CLC Programs
- Strengthening our Food Networks that serve the Black communities
- Scheduling another Aging While Black Forum in the coming months
- Ensuring that our Community Connector networks are inclusive and have opportunities for facilitated dialogue on issues related to Black Lives Matter.
- Support Black-owned restaurants, Black owned business of all kinds, and nonprofits and community efforts in the Bay Area.
Support Voter Registration and Turnout Efforts in Neighborhoods Where We Work
- Check that you are registered to vote and make a plan for how you can vote safely this year. If you live outside of San Francisco, you can check vote.org for localized information on voting.
- To help ensure strong registration and turnout in neighborhoods where we work, Community Living Campaign has hosted and scheduled virtual information sessions with the San Francisco Department of Elections and the League of Women Voters, and a workshop on separating truth from fiction in the news and on social media. We also helped promote SDA and CARA’s Voter’s Forum in early September. In October, we will continue education and outreach through mailings, food-bag inserts, personal outreach, and virtual classes.
Learn, Act, Repeat for All Who Are Facing Injustice
- Recognize the intersectionality of issues of racism and discrimination that impact LGBTQ communities, immigrants, people with disabilities, other ethnic and racial groups, and older adults.
- Bring in a skilled facilitator to work with Board and staff members to strengthen the impact CLC can have in the area of Building Communities that Value Fairness, Equity and Justice. Explore the intersectionality of movements that are fighting ageism, racism, sexism, ableism, and other poisonous -isms.
Grow Your Bay Area Black-Owned Businesses and Support Black-Owned Businesses
- Do you want to start or grow your Black-Owned Business?
- Do you want to support a variety of Black-Owned Businesses in the Bay Area?
To get support as a Black-Owned Business and to support Black Entrepreneurs, visit the Bay Area Black Market at: https://bayareablackmarket.com/
For Black People – To Heal and Take Care of Yourself and Your Community
- 44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country
- Self-Care Tips for Black People Who Are Struggling
- 13 Therapy and Wellness Resources for Black Mental Health
- Supporting Black LGBT+ Youth
- How Adults Can Support the Mental Health of Black Children
- Helping Kids Process Violence, Trauma, and Race in a World of Nonstop News
- Black Mental Health Podcast
- Sustaining Ourselves When Confronting Violence
- Practice: Healing in Direct Action
- 27 Practice: Compartmentalizing in a Healthy Way
To Learn More About Black Leadership in the Environmental Movement
- Centering Black Trans Womxn
- Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray: the toll of police violence on disabled Americans
- The Urgency of Intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw)
- Hearing the Queer Roots of Black Lives Matter
- Harvard Can’t Save You: How Respectability Politics Attack the Integrity of Black Lives
- Respectability Politics Have to Go
For Non-Black People of Color
- We Cannot Stay Silent About George Floyd
- Non-Black People of Color Need to Start Having Conversations About the Anti-Blackness in our Communities
- Why every environmentalist should be anti-racist
- How Latinx People Can Fight Anti-Black Racism in Our Communities
- Asian Americans Need to Talk About Anti-Blackness in Our Community
- On the Need for Cross-Racial Solidarity in the Latino Community
- Asian American Pacific Islanders Resources for Anti-Blackness
For Support In Having Difficult Conversations with Your Family
- Letters for Black Lives has resources translated into dozens of languages to make it easy to start difficult conversations with your family.
- Undocu Guide to Dismantling Anti-Blackness at Home
- The Taiwanese American Conversation about #BlackLivesMatter
- How to Talk to Your Asian Immigrant Parents About Racism
- How Young People are Combating Anti-Black Racism in their Immigrant communities
For White People
- Scene on Radio’s season 2 “Seeing White”
- On Being’s conversation with Resmaa Menakem “Notice the rage, Notice the silence”
- On the Media’s conversation on the proverbial “Karen” and white womanhood
- Code Switch: Why Now White People?
- In The Thick: A World Without Police
- The Environmental Movement Needs to Reckon with Its Racist History by Julian Brave NoiseCat
- Welcome to the Anti-Racist movement — Here’s what you’ve missed by Ijeoma Oluo
- Sojourner’s “For Our White Friends Desiring to be Allies”
- The Root’s Timeline of Events that led to 2020’s “Fed up”-rising by Michael Harriot
- The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun
- The Transformative Power of Practice by Ng’ethe Maina and Staci Haines
- Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup
Upcoming CLC Related Events
- Cayuga Connector Vigil – Every Thursday at 5PM-6PM beginning at San Jose and Geneva and stretching out a safe 6′ apart wearing masks. Make your own sign. A piece of cardboard works well. “Remember that the history-making Montgomery Bus Boycott saw hundreds of people – young and old – walking everywhere every day for 380 days. One grandmother said: ‘my soles are weary but my soul is at rest. I am doing this for my grandchildren.’ So are we.”
– Glenda Hope
Other events in San Francisco and beyond can be found on SF FunCheap’s List of Upcoming Black Lives Matter Protests