BLM - Taking Action
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Botham Jean. Sandra Bland. Tamir Rice....time and time again we prove that the cost of being black is death... and if you don't hear that and if you're not angry, you aren't listening.
If you follow me on instagram, you know that I have been using my tiny little platform to help amplify voices of color and to encourage the exploration of white privilege - the need for us white people to do race work. Here in the United States, systemic racism runs deep, and just by being born with white skin we were given the responsibility to do our part of dismantling it. We must listen, we must learn, we must take action.
Have you heard of Audre Lorde? She described herself as a black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet and over her 58 years of life, she worked tirelessly to fight the injustices of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and homophobia. She was a writer, a movement -starter, an educator, and an all-around strong black woman.
In 1994, The Audre Lorde Project was founded as a "progressive organization seeking social justice". As listed on their website, the ALP mission reads as follows:
The Audre Lorde Project is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, we work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, we seek to responsibly reflect, represent and serve our various communities.
The intersectionalism of being both Black and queer poses specific concerns that we don't often talk about when we mention LGBTQ and Black rights individually. The Human Rights Campaign lists economic insecurity, violence & harassment, HIV and medical inequities, religious intolerance, and criminal injustice, as some of their most critical concerns for Black LGBTQ individuals. With racial work at the forefront of my brain during this Pride month, 9th House Knits wants to do it's part donating 50% of all proceeds to ALP. Want to learn more about their programming? Check it out here!
image from - https://nusantarafood.me/