Indivisibles,
I’m Jadon-Maurice Forbes. I’m one of the Digital Strategists here at
Indivisible, and I’ve sent you a lot of emails in the past 3 years. But
this is my first time sending one with my name on it. I’ve felt so
welcomed as a Black, queer activist into this movement, arm-in-arm with
Indivisibles in your fight to resist the Trump administration. But I’m
writing you today (as myself) because I want to invite you to a special
day for my movement:
[ [link removed] ]Today is Juneteenth and I’m asking you to join me in the movement for
black lives.
This is a day that my grandmother taught me to honor as the beginnings of
a new life for the African diaspora. She was very close to her
African-American heritage and wanted to impart that quality to me. So much
so that she would replace my Hooked-on-Phonics books with ones she felt
were more suitable -- like Imani and the Flying Africans -- a fantastic
tale of a band of Africans taking to the sky to escape to freedom.
When I think of Juneteenth, I often imagine those winged, black faces
breaking their chains and finding freedom. But the true American tale of
how slaves were freed is more grounded in a nuanced, complicated, and
painful struggle for freedom that has continued for 155 years (read: that
means ‘til today). Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day the last
of the enslaved Africans in America were freed from their chains, having
continued to work in bondage for a full two years after Lincoln signed the
Emancipation Proclamation.
In many ways, Juneteenth is a bittersweet reminder of what was promised
but never delivered to Black folks post-emancipation. It's a reminder of
delayed justice. Every year, even after my nana passed away, we celebrated
this holiday. And every year, we do so in honor of progress as much as for
a continually delayed sense of justice and equality.
But this Juneteenth is different. Can you feel it? We’re in a rare moment
in that the world is coming together to really grapple with that delay. In
the last three weeks, millions have taken to the street in honor of George
Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and now, Rayshard Brooks, in addition
to the many other Black people who have been killed at the hands of
vigilantes or law enforcement. The explosion of protest is in response to
a pattern of killings, piled onto the deadly impacts of COVID-19 and four
years of Donald Trump.
For what feels like the first time, the Black community is being heard and
our solutions are gaining momentum. We are taking up space and our allies
in the fight against racism and the symptomatic police brutality are
joining in our calls for action.
The demand is clear: to end police violence and to defund police -- and to
win a massive shift of resources into healthy, sustainable Black
communities. Together, we are making real wins towards building new
visions of community safety, infrastructure, and recovery. Just look at
this [ [link removed] ]New York Times article that highlights the shift in public opinion
on the Black Lives Matter movement. Over the last two weeks, support for
Black Lives Matter has increased almost as much as it had during the
preceding two years.
To lay a path to freedom for future generations, we’re following the lead
of [ [link removed] ]Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), a collection of Black-led
organizations seeking to mobilize and organize the masses to influence
national and local agendas in the direction of their Vision for Black
Lives. M4BL is calling for the SixNineteen mobilization on Juneteenth
weekend, June 19–21, 2020. Here’s how to support this weekend:
1. SHARE: Share messages and images on social media to promote the
mobilization [ [link removed] ]using M4BL's materials from this digital toolkit.
2. DONATE: Encourage folks to [ [link removed] ]donate to M4BL's mobilization fund or to
[ [link removed] ]our ActBlue campaign to split donations between Black-led orgs
doing work on the ground (we’ve raised over $200K so far).
3. RSVP: [ [link removed] ]Use the M4BL's map to find and RSVP to an event happening
near you. The map includes in-person and virtual events happening all
over the country.
Juneteenth, perhaps for the first time, is for all of us. Will you join me
and the SixNineteen mobilization this weekend, both in a way that feels
right to you and in a way that pushes you past your comfort zone? That’s
what I hope for every time I close out an email for you all. That’s what I
mean when I ask for solidarity. That’s what we need right now.
In solidarity,
Jadon-Maurice Forbes
on behalf of Indivisible Team
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