Baltimore is rising up to protest the police killing of Freddie Gray, the long history of over policing and police brutality, and the severe under-resourcing of Black communities in Baltimore. The city is under occupation, with a heavy presence by the national guard and a curfew imposed by the mayor. The national media attention has been focused on the destruction of property, rather than the violence of police killing black people with little accountability. As one Baltimore organizer put it, the millions of tax dollars paid in settlements to families over the years could be better spent on jobs, housings, and supports to Black communities, if police were not killing and abusing residents.
This page offers resources, updates, and a twitter feed (on the right side of this page) to help you stay updated on what is happening in Baltimore and ways to support the uprisings. We also encourage you to check out similar efforts from our partners and members of Funders for Justice:
ABFE circulated From Ferguson to Baltimore: We Must Continue to Support, including a number of information resources, organizations, and opportunities to support the Baltimore Uprisings.
Resource Generation also circulated a number of resources, and encouraged support through their fundraising effort to support Black-led organizing for Black liberation, Young People Investing in a Future Free of Racism.
Please check back on this page regularly for updates and additional resources.
ORGANIZATIONS
We didn’t start a movement. We started a network.
by Patrisse Marie Cullors-Brignac - ...And as we inch closer to liberation, we will do so in different ways, and it is important to note the differences in how we approach this important work. As a friend of mine recently said: “there’s no one right way to get free.” There are divergent strategies, however, and it feels especially important to point out two in particular: neoliberalism and Black radicalism.
Spotlight: Justice Committee, North Star Fund Grantee
JC members and leaders are New Yorkers whose lives are impacted by police violence, including families who have lost loved ones to the New York Police Department. Since 2004, Justice Committee has received 14 North Star Fund grants totaling over $150,000, including the 2015 Frederick Douglass Award.
Reclaim MLK 2016
Over the past year and a half, people from across the country have risen up and are calling for a transformation of our country. Across all of the demands and work coming from different parts of the movement, we seek at least three basic things.
Mall Of America Protest A “Decoy” Says Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter organizers say their announced protest at the Mall of America was a “planned diversion” and a “decoy.” Their real goal was the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport. Protesters did show up at the nation’s largest shopping mall Wednesday afternoon, but they quickly left and boarded trains for a quick trip to the nearby MSP airport where they blocked traffic and caused delays at both of the airports.
Sustaining a movement for fair and just policing: Accelerating the pace of real change
Tides and its sister organization, The Advocacy Fund, work closely with funders and grassroots organizers to accelerate policing reform. Since 2010, we’ve been bringing people together to find innovative solutions for safer communities.
A4BL Statement on the BlackFriday14 Victory: The Power of the People Won’t Stop
As non-Black people of color, we recognize this differential treatment as another example of how the state specifically targets and criminalizes Black communities. District attorneys across the country, including O’Malley, fail again and again to prosecute police officers for the murder of Black people, and instead use their time and resources to prosecute Black activists fighting for their lives under a state of emergency.
FUNDERS TAKING ACTION
Key Insights from #BaltimoreUprisings
by Austin Thompson, director of the Youth Engagement Fund at the Democracy Alliance
The Fund for Rebuilding Baltimore, at the Baltimore Community Foundation
In response to recent painful events in our city, the Baltimore Community Foundation has established The Fund for Rebuilding Baltimore. We will work closely with our partners in the community to determine how the dollars contributed to The Fund for Rebuilding Baltimore can best be deployed to repair the physical and emotional damage that has been done and strengthen our community for the future.
Hill-Snowdon Foundation Statement on the Killing of Freddie Gray
The Hill-Snowdon Foundation wants to extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the family of Freddie Gray for his senseless and tragic death. Freddie Gray’s death joins the almost weekly incidents of suspicious and disturbing police involved deaths of Black males and females over the last eight months. These incidents are a clarion call for all those who believe in justice to look deeply at the underlying institutional practices and attitudes that inform the history of the disproportionate use of excessive and deadly force by police officers in the Black community.
Read the full statement on the Hill-Snowdon Foundation homepage.
Joint Affinity Groups Statement on the Baltimore Uprising
The events in Baltimore Maryland unfolded right as many grantmakers in the field were engaging in the 2015 conference season. The killing of people of color, predominantly Black people, by police is a recurring concern. This is a not a new problem, just one that is more well known to us all given the presence of cell phone cameras and social media. As in Ferguson, New York, South Carolina and many other regions, funders in Baltimore are now faced with developing rapid response strategies in addition to their ongoing work.
Statement by Open Society Institute – Baltimore in Response to the Killing of Freddie Gray
The Board and staff of Open Society Institute-Baltimore are deeply affected by the events in Baltimore over the last several days. We join with millions of individuals in Baltimore and beyond in extending our deepest condolences to the family of Freddie Gray, and we, too, are angry that the life of another young black male was cut short while in the custody of those who are sworn to protect and serve. While we are saddened by the recent destruction, we choose not to lose sight of the issues that precipitated these events or the solutions that are needed to bring about healing, peace and justice in Baltimore.
MUST-READ ARTICLES
Stop the War on Baltimore by Dante Barry, May 6, 2015, The Nation
Non-Violence as Compliance by Ta-Nehisi Coates, April 27, 2015, The Atlantic.
Undue Force, An Expose on Police Violence in Baltimore by Mark Puente, Sept. 28, 2014, The Baltimore Sun.
Some Baltimore police officers face repeated misconduct lawsuits by Mark Puente, Oct. 4, 2014, The Baltimore Sun.
In Defense of Looting by Willie Osterweil, Aug. 21, 2014, The New Inquiry.
In Support of Baltimore; Or, Smashing Police Cars is Logical Political Strategy April 26, 2015, Radical Faggot.
The New York Times Went to Baltimore, and Only Found the Police Worth Talking To by Neil deMause, April 28, 2015, Alternet.
How they ignore Black America: Freddie Gray, Baltimore & the pernicious influence of respectability politics by Jay Driskell, April 28, 2015, Salon.
“The law is the enemy”: What RFK can remind America about police brutality by Heather Digby Parton, April 29, 2015, Salon.
What Young People on the Ground Think of the Uprising in Baltimore by Darnell L. Moore, April 28, 2015, Mic.
Gang members: We did not make truce to harm cops by Deborah Weiner, April 28, 2015, wbaltv.com.
From Ferguson to Baltimore the Movement Continues presented by ABFE
A Statement from Baltimore United for Change tweeted by Mervyn Marcano
Powerful Content to Share About Baltimore presented by MoveOn.org
Activist and Radio Host Farajii Muhammad is a Strong Voice for his City and the Protesters Call for Justice presented by CNN.com
