9 Ways You Can Support BLM in Fort Collins Right Now
While the Black Lives Matter Movement may have been “trending” this summer. The Black Lives Matter movement has been ongoing since Trayvon Martin’s death in 2012, and even before than. The movement gained traction again in 2020 from the multiple videos on the internet gaining the attention they deserved. The unjust treatment of People of Color in the United States is not something that is new to us. It is however, something that needs to be addressed properly across the nation. Here’s what you can do right now in Fort Collins, to stand with your fellow neighbors and friends in solidarity.
- Put some spice in your life and eat at some of Fort Collins black owned restaurants. Raska International where, according to their website, “Every plate achieves that elusive, cuisine-defining balance of sweet, salty, and sour — even dessert.” Bawarchi Biryanis Indian Cuisine, Maza Kabob (authentic afghan cuisine), are some of the few POC owned restaurant businesses listed on Diverse Fort Collins.
2. Shop til you drop at Cira boutique, Urban Monk Studios or Sic970. I know you’re probably thinking “only 3 clothing stores are black owned in Fort Collins?!” Which is even more reason they could use your support!
3. If you have some healing to do, check out Black Lotus Healing Arts. Owner Dezel Shallenberg specializes in spiritual hypnotism, and energy healing. She even teaches her own workshops and masterclasses. You can read more about Black Lotus Healing Arts here.
4. Educate yourself and attend a City Council meeting. Fort Collins City Council Meetings are held every first and third Tuesday of each month. You can find a list of meeting topics and agenda’s on the City of Fort Collins website.
5. Attend the Action committee info meeting on September 28 where “attendees will have the opportunity to share volunteer interests and what actions they want the committee to focus on.” Find more events similar to this one and read more about it at Diverse Fort Collins.
6. Donate to the Cultural Enrichment Center of Fort Collins. This place is a safe place for African American middle school and high school students where they connect participants with “history, literature, arts, music, dance traditions and folklore of the African American experience.” You can donate here.
7. Get involved with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color of Larimer County) Alliance Fort Collins. Their mission is to connect with those who have aligned values and decolonize systems and institutions in order to liberate the communities of people of color. Janet Freeman, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator for the City of Fort Collins, explained “[BIPOC] They are newly formed and would be the best source for BLM in Fort Collins.”
8. Have meaningful conversations with loved ones and even strangers. It’s okay if it is uncomfortable. As Queen X, from BIPOC Alliance said “What the average person can do is first educate themselves on why this movement exists. Get uncomfortable and follow the trauma we’ve lived for centuries and now have to watch them redo policy and laws to make the slavery of marginalized families and communities come back full circle.”
9. Touch up on your history and fact check. Jamal Skinner Executive Director of the Cultural Enrichment Center of Fort Collins states, “ This history of ‘White’ violence perpetrated against Black people is deeply rooted in the inception of this country we call America.” He also suggested that, “ all people and specifically Black people [should] support any movement that is creating awareness and resistance to the brutality of law enforcement aimed at Black people. Black Lives Matter is a movement and a sentiment of the Black community to address disparities of Black Lives that are not being treated as loved civilians.”
Although we can’t change systematic racism and generations of socioeconomic disparities in one night, we can connect and find ways to relate to those who look different from us. To make Fort Collins a better place, to make the world a better place.
