#endracialprofiling

Think about your reasoning behind posting #blacklivesmatter. Are you doing it to gain justice and equality for black lives? Or simply to be part of a movement without any contribution beyond a black screen? Or are you enjoying captializing on this movement and these protests?

Think about what you’ll be doing in a months time and what you’ll be using your social media platforms for.

Join petitions to better black lives matter.

Join petitions to all the black lives lost who deserve justice.

Petition to defund the police.

Donate if you are able to.

Support black businesses.

🙏🏾

“Unity” here is an abstract I made in order to raise funds for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in support of BLM and the protest movement.

Check the buy link for purchase details.

As an artist, and a white man, I can use my platform and my skills to raise awareness and funds that in some small way can help change things. It is the very least I can do. I don’t want recognition, I want change for my brothers and sisters who are struggling.

I have created an abstract representation of two disparate hands intertwined, in fact blending into one another. The background is a blue, optimistic sky. The more the hands blend the harder it is to distinguish between them. It is the same with people. The more we get to know people who look different than us, the more we see their humanity and our common bond. The lowest common denominator among all people is our humanity. We need to recognize that and start to assume that first, our prejudgment should be that the person we see is human. We should start there.

I am donating all proceeds to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. This is a limited edition print with 500 in each size 8x10 & 16x20, framing is available.

Although the narrative for overhauling systems of policing varies city by city across the United States, one thing to keep in mind is that defunding does not necessarily mean dismantling. 

Defunding the police means diverting funds from police budgets to social services and education to better serve community interests. It is often lower income neighborhoods in the US that see the most police presence. The aggressive approach to over policing lower income neighborhoods and neighborhoods predominantly populated by people of color leads to mass incarceration of black and brown bodies, often for low level crimes. Once incarcerated, these individuals are often forced into unpaid labor while those who own the prisons profit. 

The US prison system is a privatized, for profit institution. 

Tax dollars paid by BIPOC or lower income communities are weaponized and used directly against them to further the economic benefit of the wealthy elite.

In light of all the police violence, if you believe more funding is needed for proper training. Let's talk about it. But I urge you to look at the police response to peaceful protest in the US, and read my post about the origins of policing in the US.