How Indivisibles can support #SixNineteen
Update, June 20th: actions continue all weekend. Get involved!
“We are global.
To lay a path for future generations, we are calling for the SIX NINETEEN mobilization on Juneteenth weekend. June 19–21.
We invite you to take action from home, in your community or by joining us in Washington, D.C.”
SixNineteen.com has a wealth of resources on the mobilization — including principles, demands, vision, messaging guidance, COVID-19 Health Guidance, and a map of events around the world, and a signup form for volunteers. Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) has also done a series of video calls with more information. Here’s Tuesday’s National Mass Call to Action (also available on Facebook)
SixNineteen is a Black-led event, so most Indivisibles will be participating as allies. As M4BL organizer Colette Battle said on one of these calls:
“Now is the time we need you to get behind Black leadership. Examine and check your ego. We need to know you’re falling into formation, and getting behind the demands.”
How best to do that? The first steps are to sign up at sixnineteen.com and text DEFEND to 90975.
Next, here are three specific asks that organizers have made:
- Get the word out about the Juneteenth actions — through social media, email, and one-on-one conversations. The social media toolkit on Essence has graphics and sample text for Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
- Mobilization is expensive! Donate — and send fundraising appeals to networks. Here’s M4BL’s donation page. Black-led community and mobilization groups that are local to your area also need funding, so make sure to support them as well so they can continue the work.
- Commit to supporting actions in your community. If you’re not a Black-led group, be accountable to local Black leadership: figure out how to align with them and flank their efforts. The event map make it easy to see who’s organizing an event in your area; once you see something there, reach out and offer your support. If there isn’t anything yet, check with local Black organizers and offer to help if they — or somebody they know — is planning on doing an event.
“On June 19, 1865, Black communities in Texas finally received the news that they were free. Juneteenth is a day that honors Black freedom and Black resistance, and centers Black people’s unique contribution to the struggle for justice in the U.S.
This Juneteenth is a rare moment for our communities to proclaim in one voice that Black Lives Matter, and that we won’t tolerate anything less than justice for all our people.”
As you’re getting involved with SixNineteen, it’s a good idea to spend time reading their Principles and discussing them with other group members. Ask yourself: how can you put them into practice this weekend — and longer term?
Indivisible also has some useful resources for white group members and activists: Best Practices in Allyship, Intersectionality & Allyship: The Pitfalls of Allyship, and the Relational Organizing Amidst Racial Violence Workshop video.
A couple more things to keep in mind:
- The three demands are Defund the Police, Invest in Black Communities, and Call for the resignation of Donald Trump.
- The events have been designed with public health risk and harm minimization in mind. Make sure to read the COVID-19 Health Guidance before you go.
If you can’t make it to an event, check out a livestream. Movement for Black Lives is streaming from noon to 6 p.m. (Eastern time) on the 19th and 20th at https://sixnineteen.com/live/. Here’s the YouTube video of the outstanding stream on the 19th.
As Maurice Mitchell has said, SixNineteen isn’t just a weekend of events. It’s also an organizing strategy, designed to align forces, and create on-ramps for people to join the movement and get politically educated. So please, get involved, and let’s do our part helping the movement build power.
“America broke the social contract, so Black folks are building a new one. Juneteenth is about to be 🔥 #DefendBlackLife #Juneteenth #TrumpMustResign”
