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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.
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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.
Powerpoint timeline
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.
​ONLINE RESOURCES ON BLACK HISTORY
  • Black History Milestones: Timeline by History.com
  • African American History Timeline by BlackPast
  • Perspectives on African American History by BlackPast
  • Primary Documents that shaped African American History by BlackPast
BOOKS ON ANTI-RACISM
  • The Possessive Investment In Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics by George Lipsitz
  • How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
  • What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir In Essays by Damon Young
  • White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo ​
OTHERS
  • Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos by Dr Dwight Turner (psychotherapist, Senior Lecturer within the School of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Brighton)
  • Sociology of Racism by Matthew Clair of Harvard University, and Jeffrey S Denis of McMaster University
  • Letters for Black Lives, a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, culturally-aware resources for creating inter-familial discussions on why people of various races and nationalities must support the Black community.​
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WHY BLACK LIVES MATTER
  • Black Lives Matter: A Singaporean's perspective by Tommy Koh (international lawyer, professor, diplomat) 
  • Why Black Lives Matter in Taiwan by Han Cheung, Taipei Times
  • Why Black Lives Matter Is a Global Issue by Dean Bowen, Global Citizen Project
  • Monologue on why Black Lives Matter to the Asian community by Hasan Minhaj, comedian (via Viola Davis, actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist) - see video below
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by VIOLA DAVIS (@violadavis) on Jun 16, 2020 at 10:28am PDT

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.
  • 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
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"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.
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
  • Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop by Officer A. Cab
  • Mapping Police Violence
  • Ongoing Twitter thread recording police brutality during the protests in the US by T. Greg Doucette
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Helping with immediate / short-term relief

DONATING TO FUNDS FOR THE VICTIMS
These donations go to the families of the victims for funerary expenses, seeking justice, children and dependents, and other aid required by the family. Where donation goals have been met, some funds may forward additional donations to other charities or organizations.
  • Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor
  • George Floyd Memorial Fund
  • George Floyd's Sister's Fund
  • Ahmaud Arbery Fund
  • David McAtee Fund
  • Regis Korchinski Fund
  • Jamee Johnson Fund
  • Destiny Harrison Funeral Fund
  • Eric Rosalia Fund
  • Belly Mujinga Fund
  • Dion Johnson Fund
  • Aaron James Fund
  • Tony McDade Fund
  • Healing for Darnella
  • Destiny's Dream Scholarship
  • James Scurlock Fund
  • Support for Leslie Fund
  • Trevor Belle Fund​
SUPPORTING BUSINESSES
  • Atlanta Black Owned Business Relief
  • ​Rebuild the Block
  • Shoppe Black
DONATING TO BAIL FUNDS AND EMERGENCY SUPPORT FOR PROTESTERS
Community funds across the United States have been set up to provide emergency support for protesters, such as medical supplies, transportation for injured protesters, megaphones and pamphlets, and legal support, bail, fines, and court fees for arrested protesters. 
  • National Bail Fund Network
  • The Bail Project National Revolving Bail Fund
  • Bay Area Bail Fund
  • Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
  • Charleston Bail Fund
  • Chicago Community Bond Fund
  • The Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative
  • Florida Bail Fund
  • Peoples City Council Freedom Fund, Los Angeles
  • ​Protestors of Manassas Virginia
  • Massachusetts Bail Fund
  • Minnesota Freedom Fund
  • Missouri Black Protester Relief Fund
  • Philadelphia Community Bail Fund
  • Richmond Community Bail Fund​
DONATING WITHOUT SPENDING MONEY
  • Stream this YouTube playlist - Creators are donating the ad revenue towards various causes including associations that offer protester bail funds, help pay for family funerals, and advocacy groups 
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Promoting long-term social change

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS WORKING TOWARDS SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUALITY
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles
  • ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities
  • Advancement Project
  • American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  • Black Male Achievers
  • Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD)
  • Black Table Arts
  • Black Visions Collective
  • Black Women's Blueprint
  • Black Youth Project 100
  • The Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp
  • Detroit Justice Center
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
  • NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)
  • National Police Accountability Project (NPAP)
  • The Loveland Foundation
  • Reclaim the Block​​
SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
  • The Marshall Project
  • Unicorn Riot




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Black and Asian solidarity

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Image by Kalaya’an Mendoza
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:
RESOURCES ON BLACK AND ASIAN SOLIDARITY
  • #Asians4BlackLives
  • A Different Asian American Timeline - this excellent resource covers nearly 600 years of history, showing how colonists disenfranchised and took advantage of African, Asian, Indigenous, and even indentured White communities
  • ​Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit - a toolkit to understanding and dismantling institutional and systemic racism with contributions from Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Chinese Progressive Association SF, Korean Resource Center, Filipino Advocates for Justice, Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV),  Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), DRUM, Khmer Girls in Action, 1Love Movement, AYPAL, VAYLA New Orleans, Freedom Inc, Korean American Resource and Culture Center, Mekong NYC, VietLead
COMMENTARY ON BLACK AND ASIAN SOLIDARITY
  • Structural Racism is the Pandemic, Interdependence and Solidarity is the Cure, Asians4BlackLives
  • The South Asian guide to supporting Black people in a more sustainable way, Faima Bakar
  • The History Of Solidarity Between Asian And Black Americans, a discussion between Ailsa Chang (journalist, NPR) and Dr Kim Tran (author, consultant)
  • Can Black, Asian Americans move past historical animosity in the interest of solidarity?, a discussion between Stephanie Sy (TV news anchor, PBS), Tamara Nopper (sociologist, NYU), and Brenda Stevenson (history and African American studies professor, UCLA)
  • Black and Asian Solidarity Has A Long History — Here Are The Women Now Leading The Way, Niki McGloster
  • Reviving the history of radical Black-Asian internationalism, Minju Bae and Mark Tseng-Putterman

It's not over

It doesn't end at #blackouttuesday. The fight for social justice goes on. Keep up with what's happening at these social media accounts.
  • American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) on Instagram
  • Afua Hirsch (columnist, broadcaster, author) on Twitter
  • Aja Barber (sustainability expert, writer, speaker) on Instagram
  • Amanda Seales (comedian, actress and TV personality) on Instagram
  • Amandla Stenberg (actress, social activist) on Instagram
  • Ava DuVernay (creater, co-writer, and director for Netflix series "When They See Us") on Instagram
  • Black Lives Matter on Instagram and Twitter
  • Black Visions Collective on Instagram
  • Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) on Instagram
  • Check Your Privilege on Instagram
  • The Conscious Kid on Instagram
  • Danielle Coke (artist) on Instagram
  • David Olusoga (Historian, Professor of Public History at University of Manchester, BAFTA winning TV Presenter/Producer) on Twitter
  • Ericka Harte (educator, writer, model, podcast host) on Instagram
  • Ethel's Club on Instagram
  • The Gathering For Justice on Instagram and Twitter
  • Grace F. Victory (blogger,  YouTuber, mental health advocate, columnist and podcast host) on Instagram 
  • The Grassroots Law Project on Instagram
  • Ijeoma Oluo (author, editor) on Instagram
  • Know Your Rights Campaign on Instagram
  • Layla F. Saad (writer, speaker, podcast host, author) on Twitter
  • Martin Luther King III (human rights activist, son of Martin Luther King Jr) on Twitter
  • Munroe Bergdorf (trans model and activist) on Twitter
  • R29 Unbothered on Instagram
  • Rachel Elizabeth Cargle (writer, lecturer, activist) on Instagram
  • Renni Eddo-Lodge (award-winning British journalist and author) on Instagram and Twitter​
  • Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (lawyer and political and women's rights activist) on Twitter
  • Speak Out Speakers on Instagram
  • Trevor Noah (comedian, author, host of The Daily Show) on Instagram and YouTube
  • Dr Yusef Salaam (public speaker, author) on Instagram​
Tweets by Blklivesmatter
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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
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