How to be a South Asian ally during Black Lives Matter

Many of us first generation desi immigrants living in the US are very familiar with our parents' journey immigrating to the US. We know that many of them packed up their bags, exhausted their life savings, and moved halfway across the world from their families with dreams of a better life for themselves and their kids. While we are grateful to our parents for making great sacrifices for us, we’ve almost never recognized the crucial work of Civil Rights Activists in affording immigration to all South Asian countries—until now.

The desi-American diaspora owes its American Dream to the many black activists that helped deracialized immigration policy. Now, more than ever, we must leverage our privilege in support of our black brothers and sisters to bring long overdue change in America.  You’ve seen what a racist system can do to innocent Black Americans like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. So here is what YOU can do, as an individual, to be an ally. 

Listen to Black Voices:

While many people of color have experienced racism, ignorance, and discrimination, we can never truly understand the struggles of Black Americans. They’ve endured the inter-generational impacts of slavery, segregation, mass incarceration rates and continued systematic oppression. Hear out the struggles of the black community because we will never understand, but we can listen and learn how to better support the black community in this fight. 

Protest:

All across the country (and the world for that matter), there have been peaceful marches demanding justice for George Floyd and for an end to police brutality. Whether you put on your mask and take the streets or hand out water bottles and other supplies to protestors, you can help the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement voice its concerns to the public and to government officials.

Donate

Where can you put your money? One avenue is to donate to memorial funds. The George Floyd Memorial Fund has raised over 10 million dollars, and there are several other funds for protestors like David Mcatee who have been killed in the past week. These funds can be used to provide relief for families, organize funeral services, and to take further legal action. The second avenue is to donate to organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative and Campaign Zero. These groups are doing ground breaking work to reform the justice system and protect vulnerable minorities like Black Americans. The third and final avenue is to donate to bail funds. Many peaceful protesters across the country have been arrested. Some have been handcuffed and fenced in outdoors overnight without food and water. Your donations will bail protestors and/or community activists out of jail if they cannot otherwise afford it, and it will allow for them to continue imperative work for BLM. 

Find a bail fund in your area using the following URL: https://bailfunds.github.io/

Share Resources: 

Resources can be petitions to sign, therapy resources for the black community, donation links, protest dates, and so much more. You may not be able to show up to every protest or donate to every fund, but it is important to share these types of resources so others can do so. 

Amplify Black Voices and Black Lives Matter Content: 

Social media is always overflowing with content, and sometimes crucial resources can be drowned about by Instagram and other social media’s algorithms. Your beach vacation photos are not vital right now, and delaying a post won’t be the end of the world, but it could be the difference between someone seeing BLM resources or not. Many influencers, businesses, and social media accounts including @pinkvillaUSA have made the decision to temporarily stop posting. This is part of the #Muted trend where people and organizations are halting their content to amplify black voices and BLM related content. Could you do the same? 

Educate Yourself:

You can do a broad range of research that isn’t limited to reading social media posts and watching the news in which there can be misrepresentations and media bias. You can decolonize your reading choices, watch documentaries about black peoples’ experiences, and look into podcasts about protesting and black stories. Ultimately you should be striving to unpack your privilege and researching how you can leverage it to help the black community.

Research State and Local Level Elections: 

Advocating for the end to racist government policy is imperative to sustaining the BLM movement. This begins with who you support and put into office at not just the federal level, but also, at the state and local level. State and local policy is what impacts everyday life the most, and ultimately influences federal laws. Instead of involving yourself when you hear about a fatality, you should champion for racial equality year round. Research and volunteer for candidates that are supporting reform within the justice system and are representing the concerns of your constituency. Think of this week as your starting point, but remember that we are nowhere near the finish line. 

Support Black-Owned Businesses:

The origins of the current racial wealth-gap stem from practices like redlining and that began during the Jim Crow era. Redlining made predominantly black communities suffer because their neighborhoods were blocked off from public and private investment. This manifested as a way to deny black people job opportunities and loan acquisition because they lived in “undesired neighborhoods.” Black Americans have struggled to build wealth as a result of discrimination, but by supporting their businesses we can help close the racial wealth gap while also fostering job opportunities and celebrating black culture. 

Have Difficult Conversations: 

In the past few days, you’ve potentially heard your parents saying “All Lives Matter,” exclaiming that they don’t riot despite experiencing racism themselves, or something along those lines. Whether it’s your parents or your peers, it is extremely important that you take time to explain why their experiences are vastly different from those of Black Americans. While South Asians mostly immigrated to this country based on demonstrated skill and a trajectory of success, Black people were introduced to the US as a white man’s property with the expectancy of servitude. It may be frustrating to talk to your parents that despite being minorities themselves, likely hold an implicit bias against black people. It may be difficult to confront—but it’s necessary.

Ultimately, there are hundreds of ways that you can help and no single one will make all the difference. However, what will make all the difference is the active choices you make every single day: the books you read, the conversations you have, the support you show, etc. 

Don’t just attend a protest, share a few posts on your Instagram story, and checkout once your feed has “returned to normal.” Black Lives Matter is not about being an ally today and forgetting tomorrow. It’s about being an ally everyday.