One year ago, George Floyd was murdered and Black people led millions of us out into the streets to demand an end to racist violence and murders by police.
Thank you for your ongoing support of SURJ’s work! If you are not already a donor to M4BL, can you make a gift today to the Movement for Black Lives to ensure that their work keeps growing the organizing for racial and economic justice?
Last year, I remember watching the live streams and headlines and events pop up across the globe — solidarity marches in Seoul and Harare and Vienna but also in small towns across the country where two or three faithful people gathered outside police stations to add their voices to the many. In my hometown of Buffalo, I attended the largest rally I had ever seen in my city.
As countless white people took public action in support of racial justice over the past year, I have been reminded why I do this work at SURJ. I know there are millions of white people who want to end racism and injustice within our lifetimes.
We need each other to stay in this work for the long haul.
I am so proud that tens of thousands of new people found a home at SURJ in the last year and plugged into our chapter work, electoral campaigns, abolition action zaps, and support of our partner organizations. Hear from some of our folks who joined SURJ after the uprisings began:
“One thing that’s been profound about joining SURJ in the last year has been learning about rural organizing from the Southern organizers. Our chapter represents rural communities spanning 100 miles- and yeah we live in the middle of nowhere- but we are part of this fight. Similar to the South in that there are lots of rural and poor/working class folks, but different because we are separated by such huge geographic areas. Everyone here knows who you are. Every tiny move feels monumental.” — Megan, Colorado
“While I had volunteered my whole life and I knew how big the problem was, I was not putting that knowledge into action. Last summerI had to ask myself, “Why am I doing nothing on this?” and I started looking for organizations to join. Since then, I’ve joined the core team of SURJ Atlanta and helped organize a weekly action hour that we’ve sustained for almost a year. I worked on the presidential election and the Georgia run-off and now I’m helping organize white people to support the campaign to close a jail here in Atlanta. Now I see myself as a ‘force multiplier’- I want to be a person that’s activating more and more people.” — Marika, Georgia
Were you one of those people who moved into action last year? Or do you know someone who was?
I want SURJ to grow into a home base for millions of white people to take action together to truly change the political landscape and systems of power in this country and beyond — a place to learn and grow and transform the brutal legacy of white supremacy into racial and economic justice.
Here are three ways to help grow this work.
- Make a gift today to sustain the Movement for Black Livesorganizing across the country.
- Join me tonight for a mass call to hear organizing stories from the last year and recommit to racial justice: join us tonight, May 27 at 5 PT / 8 ET where we’ll share how folks can get plugged in and stay plugged in. We’ll hear from people across the country who have moved their communities to support racial justice efforts led by those on the frontlines – from big cities to small towns.
- Sign on as a community co-sponsor of the BREATHE Act, federal legislation authored by the Movement for Black Lives that invests resources in our communities and away from policing and carceral systems.
