Black Lives Matter. While our country has perpetuated violence against Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) for over 400 years, Solid Ground recognizes the enormity of this moment as an opening to advocate for fundamental change to dismantle racism in our legal, political, and social systems.

At Solid Ground, we know that being anti-racist requires action. Here are some of the ways we are joining with and amplifying BIPOC voices and working in the community to support Black leadership and community change efforts.

Advocating for systemic change

Solid Ground stands in support of community protests and joins protesters, local Black leaders, and Black-led partner agencies to:

• Take a stand against the use of military tactics against protesters, such as tear gas and rubber bullets. This use of force is harming mostly peaceful citizens, particularly Black and Brown people who are exercising their legal right to demand change.
• Join over 200 organizations and 40,000+ people to support the Black Lives Matter demand to defund the Seattle Police Department by 50% and to invest in communities of color. We encourage other nonprofit partner organizations to join in this response.
• Join conversations about how the money spent on law enforcement, courts, and corrections could be better spent – on community-led supports to Black families and communities.
• At the state level, support calls to immediately create an investigative office in the Washington State Office of the Attorney General to handle independent review of police violence. This recommendation is one of the findings from the Serious and Deadly Force Investigation Task Force led by Not This Time activist André Taylor.
• Update our voter registration, education, and mobilization plans to incorporate this conversation about racialized police violence and racial justice.
• Commit ourselves to this work for the long-term. When the election is over, we will continue advocating to reform police contracts, remove “qualified immunity” standards for prosecuting police, and other issues.

Solid Ground is also working to support our staff and challenge white supremacy within our own organization. We are expanding support structures for staff, including anti-racism caucuses, providing additional paid time for self- and community care, improving our hiring practices, and launching an agency-wide Change Team to develop, organize, and track our agency-level Anti-Racism Action Plan.

Resources for action

Thank you to those of you who have already engaged in protests and other change efforts. Here are some additional resources to support everyone to take action at this time:

•  Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County website
• 12 Ways You Can Be an Activist Without Going to a Protest – by Felicia Fitzpatrick   
• Anti-Racism Resources – a list of books, videos, organizations, and more for white people and parents to deepen anti-racism work – compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker & Alyssa Klein, May 2020   
• So You Want to Talk About Race – by Ijeoma Oluo     
• 44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country: Because we need and deserve support – by Zahara Barnes  

Solid Ground’s mission is to end poverty and undo racism and other oppressions that are root causes of poverty. We are committed to action and advocacy to realize deep, lasting change in our organization and across the Seattle-King County region. We are committed to listening to the voices of BIPOC community members and aligning our actions to work in solidarity while following their lead.