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The Mission
There are many around the world who care about the fight for black equality in America. And though we may never be able to truly understand the experience of Black America, we stand in solidarity, offer our support, and recognize the need for humanity and decency to triumph over terror and subjugation.
BEGIN's mission started out as a way of tapping on the resources of the international community to support black equality, fight oppression, demand police accountability, and resist fascism. This site aimed to do this in two ways: (1) Providing resources by which the international community can learn about the Black American experience; and (2) Providing a list of the various organizations that the international community can support.
Since then, we have watched as the fires of bigotry continue to spread and racist attacks on Asians have increased. We have therefore expanded our mission to include promoting Black and Asian solidarity. In line with this, the site will include material on: (3) Black and Asian solidarity; and (4) how and why the experience of Black America is relevant to and affects other countries and peoples.
BEGIN's mission started out as a way of tapping on the resources of the international community to support black equality, fight oppression, demand police accountability, and resist fascism. This site aimed to do this in two ways: (1) Providing resources by which the international community can learn about the Black American experience; and (2) Providing a list of the various organizations that the international community can support.
Since then, we have watched as the fires of bigotry continue to spread and racist attacks on Asians have increased. We have therefore expanded our mission to include promoting Black and Asian solidarity. In line with this, the site will include material on: (3) Black and Asian solidarity; and (4) how and why the experience of Black America is relevant to and affects other countries and peoples.
Learning about the experience of Black America
we marched because we were getting killed, y’all are rioting because you didn’t get your way...we are not the same.
— Somto Claus □□ (@somtochukwu___) January 6, 2021
This is an interactive timeline of just some of the many significant events in Black American history. There are too many to fit into this free timeline tool. It starts with the earliest records of slavery in America in the 17th century, covers some notable events such as the Underground Railroad, and then jumps ahead to contemporary issues of police brutality against Black Americans. For a more complete overview of Black American history, please see the links to resources below.
Much of the discourse surrounding the Black American experience is set within the American paradigm, which is a complex context involving not just race but a plethora of other issues including politics, education, socio-economics, jurisprudence, history, and institutional accountability. Understandably, this paradigm may be unfamiliar to members of international community. Here are some resources that you can use to deepen your understanding of the Black American experience.
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ONLINE RESOURCES ON BLACK HISTORY
BOOKS ON ANTI-RACISM
OTHERS
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INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WHY BLACK LIVES MATTER
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INDIVIDUAL VS SYSTEMIC RACISM
The following descriptions, adapted from the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC) are helpful in understanding what individual and systemic racism are.
The following descriptions, adapted from the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC) are helpful in understanding what individual and systemic racism are.
- Individual Racism refers to an individual's racist assumptions, beliefs or behaviours and is "a form of racial discrimination that stems from conscious and unconscious, personal prejudice". Individual Racism is connected to/learned from broader socio-economic histories and processes and is supported and reinforced by systemic racism...some people argue that their statements/ideas are not racist because they are just "personal opinion." Here, it is important to point out how individualism functions to erase hierarchies of power, and to connect unrecognized personal ideologies to larger racial or systemic ones. (That is, individualism can be used as a defensive reaction.) This is why it is crucial to understand systemic racism and how it operates.
- Systemic Racism includes the policies and practices entrenched in established institutions, which result in the exclusion or promotion of designated groups. It differs from overt discrimination in that no individual intent is necessary. It manifests itself in two ways:
- Institutional racism: Racial discrimination that derives from individuals carrying out the dictates of others who are prejudiced or of a prejudiced society
- Structural racism: Inequalities rooted in the system-wide operation of a society that excludes substantial numbers of members of particular groups from significant participation in major social institutions.
Some forms of systemic racism may be easier to identify than others, such as the exclusion of Black American golfers from elite, private golf courses in the US, or the way that "universal suffrage" did not include Indigenous North American women (nor did Indigenous men receive the vote until 1960, unless they gave up their status/identity as Indigenous).
FORMS OF INDIVIDUAL RACISM
"Racism Scale", adapted from the Stuart Center for Mission, Educational Leadership & Technology
POLICE VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES
Police killed 1,098 people in the United States in 2019 alone.
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Police violence is rampant in the United States, and is inextricably linked to violence against Black Americans. Much of this violence goes unpunished. This is why you may hear police violence being described as a "state monopoly on violence" - only instruments of the state (such as police) are permitted to inflict violence on people without punishment.
This map is from Mapping Police Violence, a website that provides information on police violence in America and how this violence disproportionately targets Black Americans. The map was created by Samuel Sinyangwe. The map shows where and when police violence took place in America in 2019. LEARN MORE ABOUT POLICE VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES
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Helping with immediate / short-term relief
Promoting long-term social change
Black and Asian solidarity
Image by Kalaya’an Mendoza
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This is a complicated topic. Black and Asian communities have stood in solidarity as minorities throughout American history, yet the communities have at times experienced tension and conflict. Ailsa Chang, a journalist with NPR, sums it up succinctly:
Well, as you say, there has been tension between these two communities - Black Americans and Asian Americans. And even though the common goal of these two movements is to address colonization and to dismantle white supremacy, white supremacy has harmed Black Americans in a very different way than it has harmed Asian Americans. Like, Asians in this country have never felt what it's like to be enslaved in this country, to be mass incarcerated, right? So how do we go about standing in solidarity? How do we acknowledge each others' struggles without allowing the differences in our experiences to divide us? Here are some resources that we hope will help provide some historical information and perspective on Black and Asian solidarity:
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RESOURCES ON BLACK AND ASIAN SOLIDARITY
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COMMENTARY ON BLACK AND ASIAN SOLIDARITY
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It's not over
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It doesn't end at #blackouttuesday. The fight for social justice goes on. Keep up with what's happening at these social media accounts.
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Credits
Logo by Trippy Thambi
Images by Kelly Lacy, Jumana Dakkur, Shane Aldendorff, Life Matters, RODNAE Productions of Pexels and Clay Banks, Mike Von and Koshu Kunii of Unsplash
Images by Kelly Lacy, Jumana Dakkur, Shane Aldendorff, Life Matters, RODNAE Productions of Pexels and Clay Banks, Mike Von and Koshu Kunii of Unsplash
