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:        

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 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 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 using M4BL's materials from this digital toolkit.
2. DONATE: Encourage folks to donate to M4BL's mobilization fund or to our ActBlue campaign to split donations between Black-led orgs doing work on the ground (we’ve raised over $200K so far).
3. RSVP: 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