ANTI-RACISM: Keep the Action Going! |
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Volume 1 | Issue 1 | Anti-Blackness RIVERDALE TAKES ACTION |
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Riverdale Takes Action is an activity that aims to inform the Riverdale community about social justice issues and create opportunities for the community to engage in activism. However, we understand that it can feel overwhelming to take action with demanding academic and social lives, especially when there are endless lists of petitions to sign and articles to read. With this newsletter, we hope to fulfill our mission by providing the community with accessible, comprehensible resources. To ensure that action and discussions are occurring continuously, we will suggest four ways to take action every month. For this issue and others to come, we are focusing on anti-Blackness and racism in an intersectional manner because we all have a part to play to fight racial oppression and inequality in the Riverdale community and beyond. |
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| | ALLYSHIP | Support Black-owned Businesses: If you’re a foodie, EatOkra is a great app to not only try new food but also to take action and support Black-owned restaurants, some which are in particular danger because of the pandemic! It allows you to browse restaurants near you and then order from a delivery app, like GrubHub and Seamless, on your phone or computer. Options include everything from vegan and vegetarian friendly restaurants to soul food to African and Caribbean cuisine. If you know of a Black-owned restaurant that’s not on the list, you can also recommend a business to be added! | | |
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| | PETITION | Demand Justice for Breonna Taylor: Since March, Breonna Taylor’s death has caused rightful outrage across the country. Over six months ago now, three officers from the Louisville Police department performed an illegal and unwarranted drug raid on Taylor’s home, where she and her boyfriend were asleep. After Taylor’s boyfriend fired a warning shot, thinking the police were intruders, the officers shot Taylor six times and killed her. Yesterday, 194 days after her death, a grand jury charged only one officer, Officer Brett Hankison, for endangering Breonna’s neighbors. The other two officers, Det. Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, both walk free. Breonna Taylor has yet to receive justice, and her case shows just how many flaws there are in our criminal justice system. Click the image to stay updated on the case! | | |
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| | PODCAST | Educate Yourself: Anti-Blackness is a global issue, so we decided to review an intriguing podcast episode that discusses the history of racial oppression in an international context. From Music to Madiba: A History of U.S. Relations with South Africa by BackStory focuses on the United States government's complicity in the South African apartheid (1948-1994), a system that racially segregated its citizens and violently imposed white supremacy. Not only does this episode draw parallels between segregation in the United States and apartheid in South Africa, but it also highlights the contributions of American Black internationalists*, like MLK and Marcus Garvey, and the massive anti-apartheid movement that arose in the United States. As activists, we can learn from the successes and failures of the American anti-apartheid movement to better fight anti-Blackness today. To continuously get educated about Black history, we encourage you to listen to other BackStory episodes, especially “Another Burden to Bear: History of Racial Health Disparities in America,” “Black and Indians: From ‘What's Ray Saying?,’” and “The Real Martin Luther King: Reflecting on MLK 50 Years After His Death.” *Black internationalists are activists that stand in solidarity with Black people and movements around the world that fight for Black emancipation. | | |
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| | NOVEL | Educate Yourself: Meet Nevaeh Levitz, a white-passing biracial 16-year-old who grew up in an affluent suburb in New York City. Nevaeh never thought much about her biracial roots, but she is forced to confront her identity for the first time once she moves to Harlem. While in Harlem, Nevaeh discovers the “Black Experience” and starts to question whether she is “Black enough." Color Me In by debut author Natasha Diaz is a riveting novel that goes against the so-called Black Experience and shows readers that being Black is only one of many identifiers in a person’s life. Click on this link to listen to the first few minutes of the book! Click the button to buy or learn more about this novel from The Lit. Bar, a Black-owned bookstore in the Bronx. We suggest that you buy your books from Bookshop, a user-friendly online bookstore that donates a portion of its profits to local bookstores. | | |
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