Wondering how to be an ally to the Black Lives Matter movement?

1) Educate yourself. Blackout Tuesday was not an opportunity to post and sign off. It was (and still is) our chance to listen. If you don’t understand why black people are angry, start with a google search and keep digging! Today I learned that the median income for black households is 41k, vs 71k for white households. This is only one of the many statistics that demonstrate the institutionalized racism that our country was founded upon.

If you don’t understand why black people are angry, start with a google search and keep digging

2) Donate. I’m not suggesting this in lieu of educating yourself, but if you’re in a position to donate, please do so. @blklivesmatter and @naacp_ldf are both great organizations to donate to.

3) Use your voice. In the words of @mrsbrittanyhennessy to influencers, “You cannot turn up for #sponcon but stay silent when people are being murdered by the government. Your grid will be fine.” This week, I emailed all of the brands I’m currently working with and let them know I would not be posting sponsored content this week or next week. If we turn down the sponcon on our newsfeeds, we can help #AmplifyMelanatedVoices that we need to be listening to right now.

Talk to your kids about race and racism.

4) Talk to your kids about race and racism. Kids are the voices of the next generation. We started this conversation early because the kids noticed “daddy is brown and mommy is yellow.” (We’re teaching them more appropriate ways to say this…) I plan on posting more soon about having age-appropriate race discussions, but for now I’m just going to suggest a couple things we can do like choosing shows with ethnically diverse characters, choosing dolls/action figures of different races, and discussing how we all look different but we are equally important

Don’t worry about “showing up late” to the movement.

5) Don’t worry about “showing up late” to the movement. It’s not a competition and more voices bring more awareness. Thanks @drq_dpt for bringing this up because I would not have thought to share this one otherwise.

I understand that I will never understand, but I will stand with you.

Please feel free to add any more in the comments. And if anything I’ve said is not politically correct, please feel free to let me know that also. I’m still learning. I understand that I will never understand, but I will stand with you.