In response to the current events across the US, today’s #blackouttuesday social media event has seen Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users post black squares on their profiles to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. The intention of this #blacklivesmatter event is to fill social media channels with black squares, freeing up time for people to learn more about the movement.

In the true spirit of this event, the student-led Fettes Equality Society (FES) compiled some resources to help the Fettes community understand more about the movement and learn how to make a difference.

“The choices we make now are what will mould our society and we are unable to make good decisions if we refuse to educate ourselves about the decisions of the past. There is no such thing as too little or too late when it comes to educating yourself because rough understanding is better than blind ignorance and late does not apply to something that should never have happened in the first place.” Emma O-D, U6th student and FES member

In order to provide their school community of students and staff with more information, FES members compiled a list of resources, information sites and additional content shared on Firefly, our VLE platform including:

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#

A compiled list of petitions, calls or texts you can make, places to donate etc

 

https://interculturalyouthscotland.org

 A charity supporting Scotland’s black and ethnic minority young people

 

https://marshap.org 

 A charity defending and protecting the human rights of black transgender people

 

https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/462-police-accountability 

A non-profit news organisation aiming to highlight criminal injustice

 

https://www.ft.com/content/b5185bd0-796d-40b3-95b0-5d80081838d4 

Financial Times Podcast featuring author, activist and podcaster DeRay Mckesson discussing police violence against African Americans, what he learnt from meeting Obama and what Extinction Rebellion can learn from Black Lives Matter (32 mins)

 

The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson

A documentary on Netflix about the black transgender activist Marsha P Johnson

 

A final message to us all from the FES students: “Remember, activism is still effective even if the only social change you bring about is your mindset.”