Weekly Email Highlights: #BlackXmas Is Here Starting 11/27/2020
Go to blackxmas.org and click:
· #BuildBlack - For a list of Black-led/Black-serving organizations to which you can donate as holiday gifts for your loved ones!
· #BuyBlack – For Black-owned businesses in the Los Angeles area.
· #BankBlack – For Black banks to which you can move your money.
· We also have downloadable greeting cards and a #BlackXmas toolkit.
We want your tips and experiences! Send additional Black-led organizations and businesses to blmlablackxmas@gmail.comand tag us in your IG posts @blmlosangeles using the hashtag #BlackXmas.
60 SECONDS FOR JUSTICE: Quick Things You Can Do Right Now
1. CHANGE your profile picture on all social media to the Black Xmas image from 11/27/2020-12/1/2021. (See graphic below or download from blackxmas.org.)
2. SIGN AND SHARE two petitions 1) Request that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris meet with Black Lives Matter to discuss our expectations and priorities. 2) Demand that CA Governor Gavin Newsom Kamala Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate with either Congresswoman Karen Bass or Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Keep a Black woman in the U.S. Senate!
3. EMAIL us information on your favorite Black-owned businesses and organizations for inclusion in our #BlackXmas campaign, which profiles Black-owned businesses that benefit the community at blmlablackxmas@gmail.com.
This Week’s BLMLA Actions/Events (11/23-11/30/2020):
· Tuesday, 11/24/2020 9:30AM – Los Angeles Police Commission Meeting on Zoom at https://lapd.zoom.us/s/289225944 – Tuesday is the deadline to make public comment about police stops and searches (which continue to target Black people). Please use the “raise hand” function to speak. To participate by phone, call (855) 880-1246, Meeting ID: 289 225 944. Press *9 to be put in the cue for public comment.
· Tuesday, 11/24/2020 7PM – Setting Community Expectations for the New DA on facebook.com/blmla – Join the conversation! Let’s set community expectations for the new District Attorney. What do we want him to do and know? How do we want him to engage with us? After we build community expectations, we’ll present them to DA-elect Gascon.
*No Torrance City Council or This Is Not a Drill! this week.
*Stay plugged in to @blmla on Twitter and @blmlosangeles on IG for possible pop-up actions.
Recap:
· In a press conference in front of LAPD HQ on Monday November 17th, members of Black Lives Matter LA spoke to their own experiences and the very real impact of being racially profiled by an LAPD whose own stop data shows their anti-Blackness.
· On Thursday, 11/19 we joined Downtown Crenshaw for a bus ride/caravan to the documented office of Asher Abehshera CEO of LivWrk, the proposed colonizer of our #40AcresAndAMall. A couple hundred of us rallied in front of the office. We were told he wasn’t there, we continued our caravan to his home, we disrupted in his community in front of his home to let him know he’s not welcome in Crenshaw ! We are demanding he back out of the deal, instead we demand to have community control, wealth and stabilization in Black Los Angeles.
· Important conversation on last week’s This Is Not a Drill! featuring activist-scholar-journalist Rosa Clemente. We discussed politics, solidarity and Black power. If you missed it, catch it here!