Friendmendations 6.8.20

We are getting RESULTS, people!! Minneapolis is DISBANDING THEIR POLICE DEPARTMENT!!

Don’t let up! Devote some time this week to concrete actions that help fight racism and police brutality. I’ve got links to help with that! Of course I do!

Get in loser, we’re abolishing the police!

Don’t settle for anything less than abolition. Here’s a good, quick thread on why that’s needed if it seems weird to you. If you’d prefer an in-depth argument, Reina Sultan wrote a really detailed explanation for Bitch Media, and 8toabolition.com offers helpful critique of the #8cantwait initiative and information on abolition as the alternative. Here’s a super helpful tool for contacting your local officials in major cities to demand that the police be defunded — I added a paragraph in mine about following in Minneapolis’s lead and disbanding entirely. It’s possible and we’re making it happen!!

This is not a moment. This is a movement.

Let’s do some rapid-fire resource links for continuing the damn work! (Above artwork by @artistsforgeorge.)

LEARN: Bryanna Wallace and Autumn Gupta (on Twitter here) created “Justice in June,” an incredible month-long lesson plan for educating yourself on ways to support the black community in 10, 25, or 45 minutes a day.

DONATE: George Floyd worked at a homeless shelter, and the community in Minneapolis is converting a hotel into a new shelter with meals, first aid and harm reduction services, security teams, and housekeeping. The story of how it came about is incredible — read about it at their GoFundMe here and contribute if you’re able. This week, I’m also donating to the efforts to ensure that Texas and Wisconsin go blue this election, because Trump can’t win without them. Every dollar pays for sending out two vote-by-mail applications!

SIGN: If you have some spare time this week, put on a podcast or an album you’ve been meaning to check out and sign some petitions. (This is how I finally listened to all of Chromatica.)

Joanne Rowling and the Bitch-Ass TERF Rhetoric

Once-beloved author and world-class goodwill squanderer J.K. Rowling apparently realized she was overdue for another round of embarrassing herself online. For those keeping track at home, the last time was a mere two weeks ago, when she accidentally copy and pasted some weird transphobia in an unrelated tweet to an actual child. This time she tweeted transphobic nonsense on purpose! During Pride Month! You hate to see it!!!

Here’s a good list of articles explaining why British women are so fucking TERFy, if you weren’t aware that this is a pattern. We’re done with Jo. She’s gonna continue shitting herself publicly, like the wizards in her universe who canonically shit themselves, a thing she felt the need to go on record and explain.

The average life expectancy for a black trans woman is THIRTY-FIVE YEARS. Donate to the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition Mission, the Trans Justice Funding Project, or this fundraiser for black trans women who are homeless in Atlanta.

Surrender to K-pop

K-pop stans are using their zealous energy for good — spamming racist hashtags with posts, flooding police snitching apps, and donating millions of dollars to Black Lives Matter. We owe a great deal of debt to our K-pop stan comrades. I think Blackpink’s “Kill This Love” video is a good intro to the genre (I also enjoy their mesmerizing choreo practice videos) but if you want a more academic explanation of the genre, the podcast Switched on Pop has a great episode about it.

Okay, this week was heavy, here’s a pigeon and puppy who are friends

They are so small! And they’re friends!

Okay. That’s it from me. Let’s get through another week! Stay strong, take care of yourselves, and keep fighting! I leave you with this motivational nonsense!