Dear MoveOn member,

I am Michael Crawford, MoveOn's Cultural Director. I'm usually in the
background supporting MoveOn's campaign work, but I wanted to write to you
for an important reason.

I am a Black man, and, like George Floyd, I grew up in Houston. I've seen
with my own eyes how Black people, especially those of us who live in poor
communities, are treated and mistreated by police officers who have sworn
to "protect and serve."

The murder of Mr. Floyd wasn't an isolated incident. In fact, it's not the
only police killing of Black people in recent months. The cases are too
many to name, and they include these:

* On March 13, in Louisville, KY, police officers burst into the home of
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American emergency room
technician, and shot her eight times.

* On May 28, in Tallahassee, FL, police shot and killed Tony McDade, a
Black transgender man.

This is far from the first time we've been at this crossroads as a nation.
No matter what you have done before—if you've been in the streets
demanding justice for Black lives or if you are just now feeling the
urgency to do your part to correct this injustice—there is a place for you
now.

There are no easy answers, as is usually the case when we're confronted
with racist policies that have metastasized into a system that dehumanizes
Black people and values our lives less than white lives. The police
killings of Mr. Floyd, Ms. Taylor, and Mr. McDade are part of a history of
violence against Black people that is as old as America itself, and it
won't be solved with one petition, one tweet, or one statement by a
politician.

All across the country, hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the
streets in powerful ways. Not everyone can protest in-person in this
moment with the continuing threats of the coronavirus pandemic and police
violence. The only person who can decide your risk level is you.

If you are looking for ways to take action from home, here are a few
suggestions from MoveOn staff of concrete actions you can take:

 1. Join the work of vital Black-led and civil rights institutions, like
Color of Change (whose [ [link removed] ]petition for justice for George Floyd has
now been signed by 400,000 MoveOn members); the Minnesota Freedom
Fund, which is on the ground in Minneapolis; and Fair Fight, the group
led by Stacey Abrams to battle voter suppression and expand voting
access. [ [link removed] ]If you haven't yet signed Color of Change's petition, add
your name, and then share it with friends and family. And look for an
email with other organizations you can support later this week. 

 2. Share antiracist articles on Facebook and social media, and educate
yourself and your community in the process. [ [link removed] ]You can find plenty of
resources on this page intended for white allies and compiled by Sarah
Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein. It may—and should—lead to some
challenging conversations.

 3. Act locally and demand Washington officials hold police
departments in your city accountable—from oversight of their actions
to taking measures to reduce their funding. [ [link removed] ]Check out this article
in Saturday's New York Times for more insight into the need to reduce
and defund police departments. This is one place where local
government, the folks closest to home, can have powerful influence to
make change. Find the phone number of your mayor, city council, or
police department to demand restraint in the face of protests,
oversight of police actions, and steps to demilitarize and defund
police departments. [ [link removed] ]Or start your own petition here.

 4. Read and share my op-ed: [ [link removed] ]"If you're a white person wondering what
to do during the George Floyd protests, I have some advice." In it I
write, "It's crucial that you move from 'not racist' to becoming an
antiracist. This begins with acknowledging that growing up in a racist
society means you have taken in those ideas and that they have shaped
your thoughts, feelings and actions."

 5. Be a voter by registering, committing to vote yourself, and
encouraging friends to vote. Voting isn't the end-all of how we create
an America for all. It is an important part of a larger strategy to
make our vision of the future a reality. [ [link removed] ]You can check your voter
registration status and register to vote here.

If you do decide to take part in street protest to demand justice for
George Floyd, here are some resources that will help you stay as safe as
possible:

* [ [link removed] ]"Safety During Protest" from Amnesty International.

* [ [link removed] ]"How Dangerous Is It to Protest During a Pandemic?" from Rolling
Stone

We'll continue to share with you concrete actions that we can collectively
take to end the system of racist policies that have for too long governed
our society and kept Black people from full participation in American
life.

Thanks for all you do.

—Michael, Emma, Mark, Jayne, and the rest of the team


Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day
by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage,
defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's
pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must
never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever.
Will you stand with MoveOn?



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