It is unacceptable to remain silent. #BlackLivesMatter
We've been overloaded with information about so many violent, terrible things, in the midst of a global pandemic that's creating uncertainty about what life will look like days, weeks, months from now. This week, we’re reminded that the same hands that built the systems that caused George Floyd and Eric Garner and so many others to not be able to breathe at the hands of racist police violence, built the one that makes it so COVID-19 disproportionately infects and kills Black people so that they literally cannot access their bodily, human need to breathe.This same system still, is the one that creates barriers to reproductive access that makes it so that so many Black people cannot breathe easy and make autonomous, attainable choices about their health.It’s the one that makes it impossible for many to breathe easy as they walk in a public park or go for a run. Breathing is central to telling a story that captures a room, taking a walk in a safe neighborhood, sleeping well at night because you and yours are taken care of...it’s everything. We must say their names. George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Alton Sterling, Amadou Diallo, Atatiana Jefferson, Botham Jean, Breonna Taylor, Claude Reese, Clifford Glover, Corey Jones, Darnisha Harris, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, John Crawford, Jonathan Ferrell, Jordan Edwards, Kathryn Johnston, Keith Scott, Kendra James, Korryn Gaines, Mike Brown, Malissa Williams, Nina Pop, Oscar Grant, Pamela Turner, Philando Castile, Randolph Evans, Rekia Boyd, Samuel DuBose, Sandra Bland, Sean Bell, Shantel Davis, Shelley Frey, Stephon Clark, Tamir Rice, Tarika Wilson, Terrence Crutcher, Tony McDade, Tyisha Miller, Walter Scott, Yvonne Smallwood…and so many more known and unknown.
Everyone perpetuates and internalizes white supremacy. We all can and must do the work every day to dismantle systemic anti-Black racism -- with people with white privilege taking on the majority of the work.It is unacceptable to remain silent while we continue to see Black women, Black men, Black youth, Black children, and Black trans and nonbinary people experience violence at the hands of police. We will not be silent. We encourage you, as a DC Abortion Fund supporter and friend, to support and follow Black-run organizations in Minneapolis, Atlanta, and D.C. like Black Vision Collective and Reclaim the Block, local ones in DC doing the work like BYP100, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, Black Lives Matter DC, and the DC chapter of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (Cash app account: $dmviwoc), and national organizations like The National Bailout. And especially to our non-Black supporters and supporters with white privilege, there are some great resources to help you start or continue your journey at being anti-racist. If you have never taken action, now is the time to speak out, learn more, donate, and critically, join an organization and do the work.
In solidarity,
DCAF Board of Directors