As an advocate for the Gun Violence Prevention movement, I’ve learned a lot about how quickly the space cause become very exclusionary and very white very quickly.
Will all the incredible work that March For Our Lives and Moms Demand Action does, its so white and so centered around mass shootings that it only covers the surface of what gun violence actually is in the US.
Here are some things to consider if you want to be a good ally/leader in the GVP community:
- Give more space and time for black and brown speakers in your programs. The majority of gun violence happens in those communities.
- Make your programming take place not during the work week/make the programming at a time when people don’t have to chose between work and activism to attend.
- Make sure it takes place in an area where there is multiple ways of transportation. Don’t make it in a suburb where the only way to get to it is by car.
- Give space to LGBT people (especially black trans women) to speak their truths about gun violence and how it affects them and their community.
- Acknowledge that police brutality is a form of gun violence and that more legislation is not always the answer for curbing gun violence when it involves more policing.
- If a speaker backs out because it is too emotional for them to talk about at the moment, even if they already agreed to it, don’t be a dick and make it all about you. They are the survivor. They are in no way obligated to share their trauma if they don’t want to.
- Make sure to talk about rural areas and know how their view of gun violence differs from suburban and inner city gun violence.
- Talk about suicide and domestic abuse and what role gun violence plays in those areas.
- Listen to others more than you talk about yourself.
- Understand that the best learning happens when you are uncomfortable.
