Support Anti-Racism Work Virtually and in the Community

The CDLI team sat down with Bilal Khan to talk about how people can support anti-racism efforts through social media, education, grassroots organizations and voting.
Social media is an incredible tool to spread awareness about inequalities, racism and colonization. For example, when the Beirut Explosion happened it was all over social media and very quickly people found out the most effective way to donate money. This is important because certain charities were not using donations to help people. People quickly discovered the best places to donate to directly help the Lebanese community. Without social media, it would have been much more difficult to find the proper channels to help people.

Outside of social media, the most basic way to support anti-racism and decolonization work is to truly educate yourself. Learn from other perspectives and learn about history. The more knowledge you have, the easier it is to discern right and wrong information. You’ll have a broader perspective which will make it easier for you to relate to other people. This is important because I think a lot of tension is due to misunderstanding each other. I think people are uncomfortable in these situations because they tiptoe around what they want to ask instead of being direct because they think they're being rude or ignorant. But even if you are a little bit ignorant it's better to acknowledge that than tiptoe around. People can also support this work by finding anti-racism and decolonization causes within your city. Grassroots events have the power to change our city and community. Get involved and vote. Don’t solely vote for economic reasons because someone has convinced you that you’ll get a job if you vote for them but also social reasons.

Resources:
https://yemencrisis.carrd.co/
http://www.redcross.org.lb/index.aspx?pageid=907