Dear MoveOn member,

Last week, America reached the grim milestone of 100,000 lives stolen by
the coronavirus. George Floyd's breath was stolen by another virus: racist
police violence.

In broad daylight, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the Minneapolis Police
Department callously and cruelly asphyxiated Mr. Floyd using a chokehold
which led to a lack of blood flow to Mr. Floyd's brain and caused his
death.

Lamentably, Mr. Floyd's state-sponsored murder was not an isolated
incident. It was but the latest chapter in a centuries-long history of
white supremacist violence that has taken the lives of far too many Black
people.

This moment demands that each of us—especially those of us who are not
Black—act with great urgency in defense of Black lives, to support the
work of ending police brutality and white supremacy, and to bring forth a
world order in which Black people are truly free and liberated. There are
many ways of participating in this work—and here's something you can do
now that will have immediate impact:

[ [link removed]- ]Will you rush a $3 donation that will be split between
two organizations—the Movement for Black Lives and National Bail Out—on
the front lines in the struggle for racial justice?

The Movement for Black Lives was founded in response to the Ferguson
Police Department's murder of Michael Brown and has since been at the
forefront of the movement for Black liberation, working to protect the
rights of protesters and organizing in cities and states to divest from
the police.

National Bail Out is a Black-led and Black-focused organization that works
to end the horrific policy of pretrial detention and cash bail that keeps
so many people of color in jails and prisons without a conviction, simply
because they cannot pay. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic they
have been working to bail out Black mothers and caregivers, and they are
also working to bail out protesters who have been arrested en masse over
the past several days.

[ [link removed]- ]Click here to split a $3 donation between the Movement
for Black Lives and National Bail Out, organizations on the front lines of
this fight. 100% of your donation will go directly to these organizations.

John, the degradation of Black life, including the murder of
George Floyd—and Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others before
him—is nothing new in American history.

Beginning in the 17th century, European colonizers, seeking to amass
untold riches, abducted people from the western shores of Africa and
forcibly transported them to what is now the United States. Once here,
those same European colonizers, through unspeakable crimes that offend
morality itself, seized this land from the indigenous people.

It was here, in these stolen lands, where this country's founders legally
declared that Black people were not fully human and, instead, declared
Black life to be white property. The stolen labor of African slaves built
this country.

After over two centuries of Black bondage, a civil war ended the barbarous
system of chattel slavery. But in many deep senses, Black people in
America remained deprived of liberty. For decades following the formal end
of slavery, Black Americans were forced to live under a legal regime of
segregation and under the terror of lynch mobs looking to hunt them down.
Even children were not spared.

In this era, the police were of little help. Indeed, too often, the police
themselves were the purveyors of violence.

In the decades since, thanks to Black leaders and a multiracial movement
that supported them in the struggle, some laws have changed for the
better.

But in other ways, our nation has regressed to its old racist habits. In
recent decades, Black people have been the targets of an ill-conceived
"war on drugs" that has torn asunder Black families and has needlessly put
hundreds of thousands of Black people behind bars. Our health care system,
too, continues to fail Black families, as Black people have been dying in
disproportionately large numbers due to the coronavirus.^1

The list of such racial injustices is nearly endless. That's why we must
pledge ourselves to radically transforming our laws and our nation in the
direction of racial justice.

[ [link removed]- ]The noted Black philosopher Cornel West once said that "justice is what
love looks like in public." If you are devoted to love, if you are
committed to justice, please consider a $3 donation that
will be split between two critical organizations—the Movement for Black
Lives and National Bail Out—on the front lines of this fight. 100% of your
donation will go directly to these organizations.

The pandemic and its attendant economic collapse have devastated too many
families across this nation, and we understand that money might be tight.
But if you are able, your donation of any amount would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks for all you do.

–Corinne, Ann, Allison, Eric, and the rest of the team

P.S. Thousands of local and national groups are working on the ground in
Minneapolis, Louisville, and across the country to support this movement.
As you chip in to support the Movement for Black Lives and National Bail
Out, please also consider donating to local organizations—in your city or
elsewhere—that are on the front lines.

Source:

1. "Black Americans dying of Covid-19 at three times the rate of white
people," The Guardian, May 20, 2020
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