Dear Travelers: Now’s the Time to Show Up for Racial Justice
It’s a painful time to be in the United States right now. I haven’t been able to watch the news for weeks, and I’ve struggled to find motivation to work, losing countless hours of sleep. As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak’s grip, we’ve had to shift our attention and react to the collective heartbreak over the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and recently Breonna Taylor -- a 26-year-old Black woman who shot at least eight times by police officers who forced their way into her Louisville home back in March. Their names strike a chilling evocation of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner and countless others lost, searing open the legacy of racial injustice throughout the United States. June 5th would have been Breonna’s 27th birthday.
As a Black, queer person, I’ve been grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to 63 countries and six continents. Whether it be in the mountains of rural Armenia, the bustle of a busy, overcrowded street in Cairo or in my adopted homes of Lisbon and Paris (usually with a glass of wine in hand), my identity as a traveler has connected me to the world and to other people in ways I’ve never envisioned as a boy growing up in the south. It’s a critical part of who I am. Yet the acute, and sometimes stinging awareness of being a Black person in this country is never forgotten, reappearing as soon as I land back on American soil.
As people who thrive from traveling, whether for leisure or in our professions, we also have the opportunity to bring visibility to issues in the places we visit and struggles happening in our homelands. As psychologists have pointed out, experiencing another culture enhances our senses of connection and empathy. For Americans, it means not only supporting struggles happening abroad, but also recognizing those happening right in front of our eyes. Numerous travel influencers have stepped up in this moment, including The Points Guy, who have created space for Black voices and provided substantial donations to Black organizations, such as the National Association of Black Journalists.
If you’re wondering how to get engaged -- first, recognize that working to end racial injustice is a lifelong commitment, and not something that can be solved in days or weeks time. The legacy of white supremacy -- all of the social, political, historical, and institutional ways in which white people benefit at the expense of people of color -- has existed in the United States for centuries, and is deeply entangled in all areas of our life. Systemic racism shows up notably in our criminal justice system, which disproportionately jails Black and Brown people (particularly Black men) for non-violent crimes and further disadvantages low-income people of color through the unjust practice of money bail. Slave patrols were an early form of American policing, set up to capture and discipline runaway slaves. With the murders of George Floyd and many other victims of police violence top of mind, all of this demonstrates why systemic racism is so complex, but why we need to be vocal and taking action to dismantle it, especially now.
Here are some specific ways you can get engaged with racial justice:
Call, text and write letters and emails. Call the District Attorney in Minneapolis and demand justice for George Floyd by calling 612.348.5550, and in Louisville you can call 502.574.2003 to demand justice for Breonna Taylor. You can also text FLOYD to 55-156, JUSTICE to 66-8336, or ENOUGH to 55-165 and contact the Mayor of Minneapolis and the Mayor’s Office in Louisville. In light of the wave of recent police violence against civilians and lack of public oversight, people are also calling for defunding of police departments and reallocating their budgets (which are often very large) to community services, education and arts — you can visit Defund12 to send a quick automated email to the Mayor and City Council in various cities.
Donate. To support communities in Minneapolis, consider donating to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, Black Visions Collective, Reclaim the Block and Communities United Against Police Brutality (Minneapolis). In Louisville, where Breonna Taylor was murdered, you can direct your funds to Black Lives Matter - Louisville and the Fairness Campaign, who have been advocating for a proper investigation and legal action since March 13. There are many organizations focused on various causes which range from legal defense, media literacy and ending large-scale systemic injustice, such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The Bail Project, Color of Change, Black Women’s Blueprint and Equal Justice Initiative. Consider also donating to Black and trans-led organizations such as the The Okra Project, Trans Justice Funding Project, and House of GG, as Black trans and gender-expansive people are at greater risk of facing violence and being murdered (especially at the hands of police) a horror that largely remains invisible. While we have to demand justice for George, Ahmaud and Breonna, we can’t forget about Tony McDade, Nina Pop and others whose stories haven’t been profiled in the media. And don’t forget to #BuyBlack -- support Black-owned businesses, restaurants, artists, musicians (this Google Chrome extension can help). See an extensive list of places you can donate to here.
Read and learn. Some of my favorite authors who have written extensively about racial injustice include Anne Braden, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis and James Baldwin, but some powerful books for building your anti-racist analysis include "Between The World And Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander and "How to Be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi. There’s also this list of books on dismantling racism for white readers, which has some great reads.
Be an ally. Learn about Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) , a national network of members committed to ending racial justice and they have local chapters. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.
Speak out. Arguably one of the most important things you can do is to speak out against racism and challenge it as soon as you witness it. This means confronting your aunt at the dinner table, talking to your friends who say “all lives matter” or about the myth of “colorblindness” or friend for making a “friendly” racist joke. You can find some helpful talking points here (courtesy of wastefreemarie). This also means sticking up for your Black and non-white colleagues at the workplace, or filming racial incidents when you see them take place with your cell phone.
As citizens of the world and as people who travel, we have a duty to look out for each other no matter where we are. There are going to be uncomfortable conversations and difficult moments to come, but this is how racism works and why it thrives. For us to truly dismantle it and achieve racial justice, it’s going to take all of us to show up.