Bandshes!

We recently enjoyed shooting a living room video of our song, Once you go, for the West end Harvest jam (a virtual streaming event). why did it take us two hours to shoot a three minute song? Sometimes you’re just having too much silly fun with your friends.

Emily threw together this fun blooper reel (that no one asked for).

As White folks who want to fight racism, it is our responsibility to listen to and elevate the voices and experiences of Black and Indigenous People of Color. It is also our responsibility to keep ourselves informed and talk to other White people about issues of systemic racism and stand up when we witness racism. 

Addressing and dismantling structures of White Supremacy is a long-term process that requires hard but necessary work. We’ve compiled some resources that have been useful for us as we continue to keep ourselves informed, and we hope it will be useful for you as well. 

Change takes action. Informed action is the most effective.

 Learning

Listening

Some good podcasts on Race and Movement Building: 

1619  

Code Switch

Intersectionality Matters!

Irresistible 

Justice in America

Pod Save the People

This Land

When We Fight We Win!

We’ve also compiled a playlist of podcast episodes that will continue to be revised and updated; you can list here. 

Reading

Some of our recommendations: 

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Where Do We Go From Here by Martin Luther King Jr.

Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde

The writings of Angela Davis

The writings of Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, including “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color”

YWCA Social Justice Glossary

A reading list for kids

Black-owned booksellers: 

Key Bookstore

List 1

List 2

Another good book resource:

Social Justice Books

Web

Racial equity and resources for White people

Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion

Anti-Racism resources for White people.

If You Want To Be Anti-Racist, This Non-Optical Allyship Guide Is Required Reading

Recources for Racial Identity Development; Designed specifically for, but not limited to, White people

Save the Tears: White Woman's Guide

Why you should stop saying “all lives matter,” explained in 9 different ways

99 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

Police

Mapping Police Violence

MPD 150: A People’s Project Evaluating Policing

The Marshall Project

What To Do Instead of Calling the Police

Indigenous History, Rights, and Activism

Civil Rights for Indigenous Groups: Native Americans, Alaskans, and Hawaiians

Indigenous Peoples Movement

Native American Activism: 1960s to Present

On Indigenous Peoples Day, new ideas for American Indian land rights

One Way to Help Native Americans: Property Rights

Remember Whose Land You’re On: The 2019 Indigenous People’s Movement

The American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The Dakota Access Pipeline

The Wild West Re-Lived: Oil Pipelines Threaten Native American Tribal Lands Tribal Lands

TransCanada Pushes KXL Construction Despite COVID-19 Threats

Treaties Still Matter: The Dakota Access Pipeline

6 Native leaders on what it would look like if the US kept its promises

#MMIWG2S – Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn, Girls, and Two Spirit

Support the Movement!

Movement Building

For Nonprofits (but really useful for anyone)

In the Arts 

For Teachers

Teaching for Change

If Not Us Then Who? - This has educational resources but also general information and movement building action items

Zinn Education Project

Equity Toolkits

Center for Leadership and Justice Organizing Process

Creative Reaction Lab’s Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide

Designing Value: What Does it Mean to Design with Equity in Mind?

Open Communities Alliance Policy Toolkits

Sustainable CT Equity Toolkit

Black Lives Matter

Donate to Bail Funds

Connecticut Bail Fund

Community Bail Fund

More Action Items

National Resource List

Some Action Items for White & Non Black POCs

Ways You Can Help

How to talk to our White friends and family

How to Talk About Racism With Your White Parents

How to talk to your non-black family members about race, according to therapists

How to Talk to Your White Family About Racism

If You’re Having Tough Conversations

Ten Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism, and Racial Justice

Want To Have Better Conversations About Racism With Your Parents? Here's How

These resources are just the beginning, and do not cover all the ways people in the U.S.A. face discrimination and oppression due to the structures of white supremacy.

However, we hope that this motivates you to start learning and keep learning.

Start unlearning your own prejudices and reflecting on your unconscious biases, and start talking to your friends and family about it too.

Bandshes have been heartbroken lately from so much of the recent news in our country concerning Covid-19 deaths, reopening protests, and the continued deaths of Black Americans due to the deep racism that persists in our country. 

We've wanted to talk to our audience about these issues, and we want to root it in a call for empathy. Our feeds have been overwhelmed by stories of black Americans being murdered or having the cops called on them for no reason other than existing while black. Posting images or even articles about these incidents can be re-traumatizing for your black Facebook friends, and unfortunately these posts tend to get ignored by the white people who need to see them. Or it erupts into a never-ending thread of argumentative comments leading nowhere. 

Instead, share useful links about what White Americans can do to actively combat racism. Call the numbers, write the letters, take action. We'll be including some resources at the end of this post. 

Additionally, we ask you to analyze your own initial reactions to news of Black death at the hands of police or citizens who believe they have authority over Black bodies. If your gut reaction to news about injustice against a Black American is to find justification, please interrogate that urge. Ask yourself why you are so quick to try to find blame instead of empathy for a victim of violence.Why is it that a white man carrying a gun is not a threat, but an unarmed black man is? This contrast has become painfully clear when we compare the police violence and the threat of military intervention against protesters who have stood their ground against the recent murders of Black Americans. Yet, in the past two months, White protesters have trespassed onto municipal properties, openly armed with guns, have shouted in the face of police, and experienced no repercussion. 

These protests of armed White Americans around re-opening the economy (despite concerns of a spike in death rates if we re-opening too quickly and the high probability that this will disproportionately affect communities of color) leads to our second issue. The act of empathy applies to our current situation in this pandemic. We're all anxious to get back to our "normal" lives. But rushing to "reopen" is harmful. Not wearing a mask when you go to public spaces is harmful. The New York Times recently reported the US hitting 100,000 coronavirus deaths. This is a horrific number, but don’t forget that the US lost nearly 700,000 people to the Spanish Flu. This is not over and it could become much worse if proper precaution isn’t taken. 

A false dichotomy has been created between valuing public health and safety and valuing the economy. We need to work toward a future that safely allows people to get their basic needs met. Again, the best way to reopen is to take precautions and avoid more death. So please, remember this as you start to go out more.

All three of us have experienced loss of loved ones and situations where we came very close to losing a loved one. The fear and sadness and trauma that we experience when the life of a loved one is in jeopardy is important to remind everyone of in this moment. If you've never lost a loved one, or experienced the fear of almost losing a loved one, you are very lucky. And if you have, then you know what we're talking about: apply that feeling to what black families feel when their children leave the house. Apply that feeling to what the families of essential workers feel when they go in to do their jobs. Apply that feeling to the families of the 100,000 people who have lost their lives without being able to say goodbye. 

This is a plea. Please, please, please take a moment to set aside your anger and your anxiety around the economy. Please take a moment and ask yourself "Why do I react this way?" "Why am I quick to trust police and white people but not black people and not epidemiologists?" We should all learn to ask ourselves "why" more often. And this is our plea to you.

Say their names:

George Floyd

Breonna Taylor

Ahmaud Arbery

Anti-Racism resources:

Anti-racism Resources for White People

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

Zoe’s #myhartford quarantine advice was featured in the Hartford Courant’s instagram story last week.

You can read her full advice here:

Quarantine Advice: Finding and Creating Beauty

While spending more time at home during this very stressful moment full of unknowns and fear, I have been very actively doing three personally therapeutic things: walking, arranging flowers, and taking photographs of what I see. For me, all of these activities have an underlying theme about beauty: that it can be found, appreciated, documented, and curated.

 We don’t need to travel far to find beauty. Instead, we can be more conscious in how we look at the world around us, the world that we get used to and find unimpressive because we see it every day. We can actively seek and find beauty in ordinary landscapes, as well as create beauty for ourselves. These practices help me find small moments of joy in otherwise stressful days:

 Walks. I’ve been doing a lot of walking around my West End neighborhood and am very grateful for the unique houses, the flowers and trees currently beginning to bloom, and the closeness of Elizabeth Park. However, I’ve lived and walked different places, and always find things to appreciate about them. Some of my favorite human-built things are fire escapes and the skylines created by all variances of rooftops.

 Florals. My current favorite activity is arranging flowers. The process of picking out flowers, putting them together, and then being able to wake up each day and enjoy their beauty at home is a cycle that brings continuous happiness for me.

 Photography. I love photographs. I’m not by any means trained professionally, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying taking and editing pictures. I’ve been doing this even more than usual during this time of social apartness; photographing landscapes, nature, and the flowers in my house. Something I love about capturing photos is that it gives you the opportunity to show the world to other people through your eyes. I love editing photos for this same reason: you can brighten, saturate colors, and express the emotional value of an image through the changes you make.

 Finding beauty doesn’t negate the existence of the ugly. But taking a moment to appreciate beauty can help us get through the ugly. Sometimes we resist it and sometimes we feel like we can’t see it or there is none. It’s not always easy (including for myself) but it can feel calming and rewarding when you make time for it. You don’t have to have a great camera or great photography skills to enjoy the practice of capturing the vernacular beauty around you. In fact, you don’t have to take pictures at all. The point is the thought that goes into it: looking at something, whether is a flower, a sunset, or maybe a brick wall or a fire escape, and appreciating it. Maybe you write it down, maybe you do nothing but pause for a moment and look.