Hey all,
Social distancing imploded this week in the states in the protests over the killing of George Floyd.
We'll talk more about him later, but on the protests for a moment: I'm tempted to think — well, some things are more important than social distancing, and in any case the police make it impossible.
This, while it feels earnestly true, won't matter to the virus. On the one hand, masks now have a dual purpose and a lot of this takes place outside — on the other, the air will be full of shouting, aspirated virus, and tear gasses irritating the same mucous membranes COVID19 itself attacks. This could get really, really bad. I hope it doesn't.
While rage is powerful, it sometimes lends itself to rather flat portraits. A step beyond that is to know that George Floyd was 46, and had two daughters of 6 and 22, that he worked as a restaurant security guard but had recently lost his job due to COVID19 fall-out.
Beyond that, we can start to fill in more of a picture:
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who grew up with Floyd in Houston’s Third Ward, took to Instagram to eulogize his friend (who he called Twin because they resembled each other): "Twin couldn’t wait to tell me he moved to Minnesota to work and drive trucks. He knew he had to relocate to be his best self. His ❤️ was in the right place." Courteney Ross, a friend of Floyd's, told Minnesota’s WCCO that, "He stood up for people, he was there for people when they were down, he loved people that were thrown away." Jovanni Thunstrom, the owner of the restaurant where Floyd worked security told CNN, "He was loved by all my employees and my customers. He was my friend."
This is from Lawrence Burney's article on The Fader, which centres on Floyd's rap career as Big Floyd with the collective Screwed Up Click. One of my favourites is his part of an extremely laid back 25 minute track, slowed down to the almost hypnotic. You can listen to Big Floyd's part below but the whole thing is a fun Sunday listen:
Turns out that the reason it sounds so slow and also... somehow familiar is that DJ Screw, the originator of Screwed Up Click, was a pretty important figure. He pioneered a DJ style known as 'chopped and screwed' which involved slowing down tracks, dropping and disrupting the rhythm, etc. From NYT:
The results of D.J. Screw's labors often sound like rap records played underwater on an old cassette deck that's running out of batteries and needs its tape heads cleaned. It is not music to dance to but music to lose yourself in, as if it is the last sound echoing in your head as you drift off to sleep.
Sound familiar? It's a direct ancestor to vaporwave and the various chill beats now popular via various youtube channels.
Two other things struck me, one is this interview with George's friend Stephen Jackson, quoted above. The second is a recording of an instagram post he made about the death of a young person in south London.
In sharing all this I don't exactly want to try to present George Floyd as 'one of the good ones' — but as another person trying to make his own faltering sense of the world, just as the rest of us are. Then one morning he went to the shop, paid with a $20 note that turned out to be forged, and a police officer killed him.
Making an impact
One of the results of all this is that if you have money, you've got a lot of people telling you how you can use it. There’s a good section at the end of this article, which generally covers what you can do even aside from donations.
This is a good thing. It always seems like donation should be easy, I mean if I have money and I want good things to happen, surely I can just… send it somewhere? But actually it's surprisingly hard, and so more advice always helps. Many were advocating for people to donate to bail funds in Minnesota, which seems good as a first step. I'd like people to not be incarcerated in Minnesota.
But that doesn't seem like all I want, and if I really care about something — in this case black power and equity — that would be a weird place to stop. But what do you do next, when it comes to economic support?
There are a few factors. Most obviously: where will my resources make the biggest impact? But also: is charity the right tool? Charity can be good, but I would say that useful long-term economic relationships are far better.
My security as a trans person comes from having skills people need. That doesn't mean I have the same power as a company or government, but it does mean I have a bit of power that I can use to make up for most systemic barriers. Then, it doesn't matter so much to me if people are transphobic, because they need what I have and that means they're going to have to get over it. It's not the whole story (my whiteness also makes it easier) but it helps.
So I try to think about this when I give to charity: in addition to campaign groups, how can I channel my economic choices towards (e.g.) black-owned businesses, and how can the charity I do give be mostly spent on genuinely empowering people in a long-lasting way.
Here are some ways, each of them run by black people:
Black Ticket Project: giving black young people tickets to theatre, workshops, etc. Doubly good because you help support theatre which is really struggling right now! I think theatre, and especially theatre about people like you, can be really transformative. You can support by signing up to the Patreon.
100 Black Men of London: a free community mentorship programme for 10-16 year olds. If mentorship feels a little distant to you — think back to someone you knew who inspired and believed in you as a young person. That's what that can be, and it can make a huge impact. You can support by donating to their running costs.
Hackney Wick FC: they have a really powerful video about what they do (produced by Nike). Please just watch that — please! I never experienced the transformative potential of sport, but it's clearly there. You can support by donating, or buying a membership.
The Black, African, and Asian Therapy Network: who support therapy for and by the aforementioned people. Therapy is a very white profession demographically, and that makes it harder for people to engage with it. As a trans person, having a trans therapist made a huge difference to my ability to engage with therapy so I can see how important this is. You can support by donating to their mentorship programme to help people training as therapists.
There's a big list of other initiatives here, many of them not charities, put together by a really cool organisation called Kwanda. Kwanda is a 'modern collection pot for black communities', run with an open ledger, collective voting, and a very compelling about page. Strongly suggest giving it a look! I believe they don't take donations from outside the community, but I'll let you know if I figure out another way to support.
Finally, if you need any further ideas, there is of course a true global wealth of black cultural creators out there. Musicians, filmmakers, actors, writers: you undoubtedly already love many. All you have to do is buy things you love, as directly as possible. What could be better!
(And, I usually don't share things I haven't already engaged with yet, but I spotted this list of black theatre shows you can watch online which looks really cool)
(Finally finally finally, where you do donate, consider recurring donations — even at a lower value. £5/mo feels more manageable than £50 today, but by this time next year you’ll have given £60 and probably built up a better understanding of what they do too).
I didn't want to divert focus too much this week, but I can't resist sharing this bread production line video with a huge backing track. If you've ever wanted to lose it clubbing with your mates who are all partially baked loaves of bread then crank up the sound and let those tins roll.
Hope ur well.
K
Wow thanks for putting this together Kay, really helpful, and powerful.