The look and feel of movements for justice and equity are changing thanks to social media’s ability to spread messages and create access to information, resources, and actions. Pushing these limits of social media use are young people of color and their networks (the ignition of #BlackLivesMatter is an example), as this group finds different ways to spread messages focusing on the things they care about. In this way, communication and movement building tie together by tightly spreading information that can’t as easily be hidden, whitewashed, or ignored. Thus, these young people are creating a digital toolbox for justice.

Here are some of these sources of information and action that are currently in the digital space and can be used as entry points or enhancements to your involvement with current movements:

Action

M4BL policy platform Not too long ago, people were asking what the goals of the #BlackLivesMatter movement (also referred to as the Movement for Black Lives) were, not realizing that over 50 organizations had already come together and answered that question. With over 30 policies and briefs for these policies, the platform serves as a vision of possibilities for Black life in America.

Women’s March demands and resources On January 21, 2017 millions of women and femme-identified people in America marched for a large range of reasons, all of them centered around the injustices faced by those that are not straight white men. Other identities participated but it was the centering around women’s rights that brought them out. From that, came 10 Actions / 100 Days and the formation of “huddles” around the nation.

Injustice Boycott Pioneered by digital activist Shaun King, the Injustice Boycott is his call to tourism boycotts of two major U.S. cities, San Francisco and New York City, and the support of the movement to protect Standing Rock. The first phase of the boycott happened mostly through email encouraging subscribers to make noise through social media and rally against injustices. The boycott is the second phase.

Informational Resources

Countable In between actionable and informational, Countable is a website and app that allows you to stay in the know on the status of national policy and also gives you the opportunity as the constituent to let your representative know how you feel about those policies.

Resistance Manual Modeled like a Wikipedia page, the Resistance Manual is your guide to staying up to date on the policies that are under threat and in progress with the Trump administration. A heads up: there is so much information. While it may seem daunting, this is a good resource for when you need the straightforward information on what’s happening and what you can do about it. Individuals can also contribute and help to maintain the manual.

Tips

Finding Steady Ground A refreshing and neat tip sheet put together and created by Daniel Hunter, Shreya Shah, Kaytee Ray-Riek, Matthew Anderson, and Pamela Haines to help folks doing movement work and/or surviving to help them stay grounded and impactful.

“Don’t Be A Bystander: 6 Tips for Responding to Racist Attacks” We recently interviewed the narrator and frontwoman for this video, Aaryn Lang, about the purpose of the video and how it can be used as a conversation starter to begin imagining a world without police.

Political Education/Reading

Free Yo Mind: Radical Black Books and Other Critical Stuff Less than a syllabus and more of a library of radical texts in a number of Google Drive folders and accessible to anyone with the link.

Radical Feminism 101 I found this reading list in the form of a tweeted image with a list of books for those interested in expanding their understanding of feminism beyond that of white women.

#LETSGETFREE A reading list I put together to help folks, like myself, that are interested in doing some intentional reading to up their Black political education. The reading list outlines gives introductions into three topics: Black identity and ideology, social economics and oppression, and social movements.

Now what? Use this toolbox:

Consider this an addition to the toolbox as well. Now that you have the resources in front of you  here are some tips on what you can do with them

  • Save this page, refer back to it when you are itching to take action but don’t know where to start
  • Refer to it when you need some background information and education to enhance your work
  • Get a group of folks together and figure out if there is anything you can study or organize around using these resources