BAWT Family,
We dedicate this month’s newsletter to healthy and strong Black lives and futures. Juneteenth, Freedom Day, is June 19th. America has come a long way since the Emancipation Proclamation and has so much further to go. We are committed to doing the work.It would be easy to hashtag and link a slew of solidarity slogans and hit send without doing the work. What’s harder, however, is looking in the mirror and considering power and privilege in the context of the history of BAWT’s leadership representation. We are not a racially/ethnically homogenous staff and board, yet our representation, especially in leadership, is historically and currently weighted more white than our mission and vision demands it to be. It is a major blindspot. To change that: if you are a person of color in our community, please consider joining our board. If you are an alum of color who has taken one of our courses, please consider joining our instructor community. And if you are a person of color in our community with experience or interest in learning about non-profit development, please keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming available position on our development team. We want YOU to be the future of our organization. The lived experience of our staff and leadership must better reflect the community we serve and we are committed to making that change. And if you have suggestions or feedback for us on how we can do better that you want to share, please reach out to us to start a conversation. We want to hear from you. A truly anti-racist society is a long journey, and we are committed to doing the work as individuals and as an organization. We will continue to share our updates on the internal work being done through our newsletters with you, as accountability is key to bringing about real change. Below are resources and like-minded organizations that we would like to amplify and highlight. We remain dedicated to supporting and enabling people of color in exploring and finding rejuvenation in outdoor spaces, and are excited to share our new virtual programming and long-term gear loans in adaptation with the times. Thank you for reading and joining us in this work, thank you for supporting us through our Bridge Fund during the month of May – because of the generosity of our community we were able to close the gap – and thank you for being part of our community.
In community and solidarity,
The BAWT Team
People’s Breakfast Oakland – providing bail and legal support for Black folks in Oakland
Anti Police-Terror Project – funds are needed to print materials, pay for subscriptions such as web hosting, facility rental for meetings and workshops, and organize effectively
Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee Bail Fund – locally organized community bail fund
East Oakland Collective – fund to distribute food, water, medical supplies to protesters and unhoused Oakland residents
Black Earth Farms – Ensuring low-income and houseless communities in Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, and Richmond have consistent access to healthy food. Currently providing FREE EMERGENCY FOOD HOTLINE for Black frontline protestors in Oakland – Cashapp – $blackearth ; Venmo – @blackearthfarms
TGI Justice Project
SoOakland: Rebuilding Oakland Black Businesses
Free Binoculars for Black Birders
Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America Temporary Bail Fund
PGM Black Joy Fund: Apply – Donate
#nopeacenojusticesf Multipurpose – multipurpose fund in support if San Francisco protestors who are in need of legal aid and protest supplies
Defund12.org – Email government officials and council members to reallocate egregious police budgets towards education, social services, and dismantling racial inequality via this crowd-sourced tool.
Petitions to sign
Register to Vote
Black-owned Bay Area Restaurants – search by city for Black-owned restaurants near you
Bay Area Black Market – Discover Black-owned business in the Bay Area through his searchable platform
Ashay By the Bay – Black-owned bookstore in Vallejo
Sunshine Behavioral Health: long list of stats and resources in regards to impacts of racism on black communities
The Loveland Foundation: FREE therapy for Black women and girls
Black Emotion and Mental Health Collective: virtual therapist network
Therapy for Black Girls: a space developed to present mental health topics in a way that feels more accessible and relevant to Black womxn
The Safe Place App: minority mental health app available on IOS and Google Play, educates and raises awareness on mental illness in the Black community
Therapy Resources for BIPOC/Queer Folx: a list of therapists who special in supporting BIPOC and queer folks
PGM ONE
Freedom Community Clinic: bringing whole-person healing to shared communities in the Bay Area
Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective: hosts monthly community potlucks (accessible options and childcare provided; currently on hold due to COVID-19)
Resources for Allies in the Bay – This is a living document that contains resources pertaining to the Bay Area — which exists on the land of the Muwekma Ohlone. You can find information on upcoming protests, legal aid funds, mutual aid funds, community support resources, and allyship.
An open letter (with resources) from Women of Color Collective in Sustainability, Kinetic Communities, and Latinos in Sustainability
Anti-Racist Starter Kit
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Anti-Racist Lit. Intermediate Kit
The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America by Anders Walker
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Anti-Racist Lit. Topic Specifics
Evicted by Matthew Desmond
Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy by Darryl Pinckney
Anti-Racist Lit. Biographies, Non-Fiction Novels, Personal Narratives
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Killing Rage, Ending Racism by bell hooks
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Anti-Racist Lit. Black Feminism
How We Got Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Ain’t I a Woman: Black women and feminism by bell hooks
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
In Search of our Mother’s Gardens by Alice Walker
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
Anti-Racist Lit. Black LGBTQ+
Giovanni’s Room by Giovanni’s Room
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene A. Carruthers
No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies by E. Patrick Johnson
Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell
The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir by Staceyann Chin
No Ashes in the Fire by Darnell L. Moore
The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie
