Empowering the Next Generation of Women in Audio

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Post-Production Surround Sound Webinar

Mixing and Sound Design in Surround Sound with Ai-Ling Lee and Paula Fairfield

Join SoundGirls and Women Who Are Sound for a webinar on

Moderated by Leslie Gaston-Bird author of the book, “Women in Audio”, Governor-at-Large for the Audio Engineering Society, and Chair of the AES Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is also a freelance re-recording mixer and sound editor, and owner of Mix Messiah Productions. She has a Heartland Emmy nomination for the film “Enough White Teacups”, directed by Michelle Carpenter.

Ai-Ling Lee was born in Singapore where she studied music audio engineering. After two years of mixing and editing commercials and music, she moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to pursue a career in sound design for feature films. Since then she has worked as a sound designer, re-recording mixer, and sound supervisor on a variety of films including Jojo Rabbit, La La Land, First Man, Deadpool, Wild, Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi) and Buena Vista Social Club. Ai-Ling has had the opportunity to work with directors Damien Chazelle, Taika Waititi, Jean-Mar Valée, Noah Hawly, Wess Ball, Cameron Crowe, Gus Van Sant, and Sam Raimi, to name a few.

Paula Fairfield is an International and Emmy award-winning sound designer for tv, film, commercials, and basically anything that makes noise. She has 10 Emmy nominations with two wins for her work on Game of Thrones, along with multiple wins and nominations for her work in both The US and Canada. During her career, she has had the privilege of working on tv projects such as the iconic “LOST” and visionary filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez, Brian DePalma, Paul McGuigan, and Darren Aronofsky.

Black Technicians Matter 

Before I get into this blog, let me say that I am writing this with very high emotions.  My heart is breaking for BIPOC.  I am horrified by the overwhelming lack of acknowledgment and responsibility in regards to the aggressive use of police brutality that has plagued this country for years, decades, even centuries.  I am utterly sickened by the blatantly flagrant display of racism that pours out of the White House every single day.  So, yes, it’s possible that you are reading a different, maybe more fiery tone from me today because I am fired up.

In an effort to provide some kind of tangible support, I want to use my small platform here to discuss some ideas for the future, when we’re able to live and work freely in the world again (remember, even through all of these recent atrocities, we’re also still in a pandemic).  One day, we will be healthy again.  One day, we will be able to work again.  One day, people will start forgetting the protests, the rallies, the news.  That’s the time that we need to remember that even when we’re not inundated daily by all of these disgusting displays of inhumanity pouring in through social media and other news outlets, it will still be happening and will continue happening until enough of us start using our fiery emotions as fuel to actually DO something about it.  It’s not just the inhumanity toward BIPOC that is a problem, it’s also white complacency, and, frankly, blindness.

A couple of summers ago, I hired a crew of seven sound technicians to support my theatre company’s summer season. Generally, most of my hires come from the USITT convention, KCACTF, and SETC.  A couple of weeks into the summer, one of my interns said to me,” I just wanted to let you know that I think it’s really great that this crew is mostly women and mostly people of color.  You’ve created a really inclusive department, and I wanted you to know that I appreciate it.”  Wow.  What a fantastic compliment that I, in no way, deserved.  What she said was true.  They were mostly women, and they were mostly people of color.  It’s just that I didn’t do that on purpose, and I didn’t even realize that’s what we had until she brought it up.

I was blind.  I have to imagine that, as a black woman, the person that said this to me probably enters almost every situation looking around the room to see how outnumbered she is in terms of race.  I didn’t think of that, because it’s something I never do.  I really don’t walk into a new situation and think, “Oh good, at least there are other white people.”  That summer’s beautiful blend of racial variety was a complete accident.  I learned from it, though.  I learned that as a person who regularly hires other people, I have an obligation to make sure that I am not just going through the same old motions and that I am using my privilege and my position to promote diversity and equity.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with the organizations I listed above, in fact, it’s quite the contrary.  USITT, KCACTF, and SETC provide so many opportunities for so many young people throughout the year, and I would be lost without them.  They all have many subgroups within their organizations that are specifically geared toward marginalized communities such as BIPOC, Women+, and LGBTQ.  I just think we can all be taking another step.

Maybe we should recruit specifically within HBCUs.  In researching for this blog, I very easily came across this list of HBCU schools offering performing arts programs. I also came across this HBCU list which provides useful statistics related to the schools and their demographics.  It takes two minutes for that extra Google search, and then finding department faculty email addresses after that is easy!  As I’ve already mentioned, the theatre organizations and conferences I’ve encountered in the past are doing a good job of continuing to promote diversity and inclusion, but this thought led me to Google search “black theatre conferences,” and the first hit was for The Black Theatre Network.  What a fantastic recruitment opportunity that I have been missing out on.

My point is that I don’t want us all to relax when the heat is turned down.  Let’s keep moving forward.  Let’s take another step—push a little harder.  I want to challenge shop heads, recruiters, and managers to remember this blog during hiring season, and ask yourselves if there’s something else you can do.   It’s our responsibility as artists to never stop learning, and never stop growing.


Diversify You Crew

The EQUAL Directory is a global database of professionals that seeks to amplify the careers and achievements of women working behind the scenes in music and audio. Any person around the world can add their name and claim their space. And, any person looking to hire a more inclusive creative team can find professionals in their area.

POC in Audio Directory

The directory features over 500 people of color who work in audio around the world. You’ll find editors, hosts, writers, producers, sound designers, engineers, project managers, musicians, reporters, and content strategists with varied experience from within the industry and in related fields.

While recruiting diverse candidates is a great first step, it’s not going to be enough if we want the industry to look and sound meaningfully different in the future. Let us be clear: this isn’t about numbers alone. This is about getting the respect that people of color—and people of different faiths, abilities, ages, socioeconomic statuses, educational backgrounds, gender identities, and sexual orientation—deserve.

 

Post-Production Surround Sound Webinar

Mixing and Sound Design in Surround Sound with Ai-Ling Lee and Paula Fairfield

Join SoundGirls and Women Who Are Sound for a webinar on

Moderated by Leslie Gaston-Bird author of the book, “Women in Audio”, Governor-at-Large for the Audio Engineering Society, and Chair of the AES Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is also a freelance re-recording mixer and sound editor, and owner of Mix Messiah Productions. She has a Heartland Emmy nomination for the film “Enough White Teacups”, directed by Michelle Carpenter.

Ai-Ling Lee was born in Singapore where she studied music audio engineering. After two years of mixing and editing commercials and music, she moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to pursue a career in sound design for feature films. Since then she has worked as a sound designer, re-recording mixer, and sound supervisor on a variety of films including Jojo Rabbit, La La Land, First Man, Deadpool, Wild, Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi) and Buena Vista Social Club. Ai-Ling has had the opportunity to work with directors Damien Chazelle, Taika Waititi, Jean-Mar Valée, Noah Hawly, Wess Ball, Cameron Crowe, Gus Van Sant, and Sam Raimi, to name a few.

Paula Fairfield is an International and Emmy award-winning sound designer for tv, film, commercials, and basically anything that makes noise. She has 10 Emmy nominations with two wins for her work on Game of Thrones, along with multiple wins and nominations for her work in both The US and Canada. During her career, she has had the privilege of working on tv projects such as the iconic “LOST” and visionary filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez, Brian DePalma, Paul McGuigan, and Darren Aronofsky.

The Importance of Branding and Social Media Webinar

 

Professionals who want to establish themselves as credible, reliable experts must first develop a strong personal brand. As with a corporate brand, starting your personal branding strategy requires a good, hard look at who you are — your core values, skills, and beliefs — and figuring out how to convey those elements consistently in your digital presence.

If you’re just embarking on your branding journey, you might not know where to begin. So join us for a webinar on The Importance of Branding and Social Media.

Moderated by Laura B. Whitmore a music marketer, singer/songwriter, event producer, and founder of the Women’s International Music Network and The She Rocks Awards. Laura is Vice President of Marketing for Positive Grid.

Laura will be joined by

Dani Mari: Ethereal Vocalist, Producer & Visual Artist. Founder of Female Frequency, BrookLAdelphia & Cruel Beauty Productions. She handles Content Management at SoulSpazm, Inc and is Vice President of GrindEthos Records and Label Services providing management, guidance, social media and web support, booking, promotion, networking opportunities, and many other invaluable services to musical artists of all genres and backgrounds.

Sarah Martinico: Graduated from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor’s in Music Production and Engineering. She started her professional career in Los Angeles in marketing at BMG where she founded and created the first-ever royalty-bearing stems for sale from a major publisher’s catalogue via Avid Pro Tools. She went on to work for Native Instruments developing sound packages and marketing content with clients.  She then opened her own company in 2019 called SL Music & Marketing. She has worked for numerous Grammy-winning producers, songwriters, and artists from the pop, urban and Latin worlds in marketing, branding, music publishing, partnerships, management, and consulting.

Catharine Wood is an established Los Angeles-based composer/producer & studio owner. She launched her versatile career engineering on high profile commercials – including the first Apple iPhone spot. As a mix/mastering engineer, she has delivered over 500 (both original & client) commercially released songs airing on many major networks. Her facility, Planetwood Studios, LLC specializes in production & composition services for the Film & TV Industries.

 

Ode to 555 Timer

 

Five five five pulse pulse

Vibrations harnessed in time

Ubiquitous chip

Inside many of the electronics used in the Audio Industry is an integrated circuit (IC) called a 555 timer.  The extent of its usefulness goes beyond what I would feasibly be able to list in one article.  Even Wikipedia mentions that it is one of the most common IC’s available.  Under the hood, a 555 timer consists of a couple comparators, a latch circuit (called a flip-flop), and a discharge transistor all bundled into an eight-pin IC.  By itself, it acts as a latch circuit for storing state information (or short term memory for use inside a circuit).  When connected in the astable circuit configuration it becomes a square wave generator that can be voltage controlled.  In a resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit it becomes a one-shot pulse generator, and as an added trick the 555 timer can be a Schmitt Trigger or a simple analog to digital converter (ADC).

How did this chameleon workhorse come to be?  In 1919 the first astable multivibrator oscillator (square wave generator to its friends) was invented.  Other oscillators at the time generated sine waves (or simple waves), while this circuit was rich in harmonics and therefore produced a square wave.  Other uses for the multivibrator were discovered throughout the 1940s.  The IC known as the 555 timer came to be in 1971 by a Swiss engineer named Hans R. Camenzind.  It instantly became a bestseller. Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists out there, but the name was an afterthought.

Stepping back from circuit lingo, why is the 555 timer worthy of adoration?  Where does it exist?  Voltage-controlled oscillators (for synthesizers), dithering (noise generation for sample rate conversion), clock signals (for syncing outboard equipment), analog to digital converters, and not to mention all the various blinking lights that adorn audio gear.  So what does the 555 timer do for fun?  Like many of us, the 555 timer indulges in video games and prefers consoles for their controllers.  The Atari Punk Console, a 1980’s RadioShack DIY synthesizer, happens when the 555 timer invites a friend for a late-night jam session.  In fact, you might have the parts to make one laying around right now (Wikipedia has the schematic).

Honestly, the 555 timer is the popular kid who was never too cool to hang out with you, the team member who always has your back.  From sophisticated audio equipment to garage-built synths, blinking lights to ADC’s, the world is the 555’s oyster.  Three cheers to the little chip that could.  Let’s rock out together.

 

 

Fixing the #BrokenRecord Business

 

Should we be readdressing how we split revenue for streaming?

 

As we approach the middle of 2020, there’s no doubt that we are increasingly living in an online world. While technological developments mean that many of us are lucky enough to stay connected with loved ones, the hit taken by those working in the music and entertainment business has been a big one. Since the Covid-19 crisis took hold a large proportion of industry professionals are struggling financially, unable to work, bringing the issue of musicians’ earnings to the forefront. In May the USA asked Congress for improved support for musicians in the next relief package, however, in the UK there have been several prominent conversations happening about music streaming payments.

Streaming revenues have gone up year on year and the IFPI announced 56% of $20 billion global revenues last year from streaming. The average payout per stream is £0.00076 on Apple Play and £0.0004 on Spotify. These numbers are an average as the calculations for payment are often complex and take into account many different factors. The overall split example of the current working model outlines:

 

 

In the UK the Ivors Academy and the Musicians’ Union have formed the “Keep Music Alive” alliance and launched a petition to the Government for an industry review of streaming. Ivors Academy CEO Graham Davies believes the current model is out-dated and not suited to the way the industry currently works:

“It is time to replace the pre-digital record industry models with a system that is fit for our digital future. Currently, payments are still structured around record labels being exclusively responsible for recording, manufacture, shipping, and marketing. Those days are gone and now we see songwriters, publishers, performers, managers, and producers investing heavily in developing music and acts. They do this in their own studios, at their own cost, in their own time and at their own risk.”

Another campaign initiated by UK musician and PRS Director Tom Gray has been working for change in tandem by launching the #BrokenRecord campaign to #FixStreaming. Gray argues that the split amounts broken down further into their respective copyright areas highlight some of the problems when it comes to streaming.

The 4 associated rights with a song are:

Gray explains the current model states there is no broadcasting element to streaming, and so the Neighbouring Right doesn’t get taken into account at all and is eliminated from the equation. He argues the suggested songs that automatically play next on streaming platforms are more like broadcast radio and that this element should be changed. Another point he makes is the companies that own the Major Labels are also the biggest publishers in the world. If there are publishers working on behalf of songwriters then they will control the song, which means the Performance Rights and the Mechanical Rights goes to them.

Whilst Gray covers the legal and technical elements of ownership in-depth, he also equates how many streams it takes in the current model to afford various supermarket items, using practical examples we can all understand to demonstrate the stark reality of streaming for musicians.

Gray also highlights an interesting area of streaming that may have been unknown to most of us: your subscription fees do not necessarily go to the artists that you have listened to. “If you listen to one song in a month, of your £9.99 subscription, £0.005 would go to the one song you listened to. £3 would go to Spotify and £6.995 would go to music you haven’t listened to.”

 

Along with Gray, several arguments for a “user-centric” model have been made by others in recent years to address this issue. Stuart Dredge from musically.com explains:

“The current ‘pro rata’ system used by streaming services divides their royalty pool by each track’s share of streams in a given period. If Drake gets 5% of the streams, his rights holders get 5% of the royalties. Which means that even if you never play Drake’s music, he’s getting 5% of your subscription. However, under a user-centric model, the royalties from your monthly payment would only go to the tracks that you listened to.”

Dredge acknowledges it is unknown just how successful this change would be in practice, but also notes that Deezer plans to trial a user-centric model in France (with labels only) to find out how this might translate in the future.

While it still seems that the answer to fully addressing the complexities of streaming revenue may be some way off, it’s a topic that is getting a great deal of coverage with one main theme in common: the streaming market is largely unregulated at present and there seems to be a unanimous call to collecting societies to become more active and involved in this area.

You can read more about the current petition updates at https://www.change.org/p/the-rt-hon-oliver-dowden-cbe-mp-secretary-of-state-for-digital-culture-media-and-sport-it-s-time-to-fixstreaming

Ivors Academy: https://ivorsacademy.com/campaign/keep-music-alive/

Tom Gray: @MrTomGray https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1249290407088881675.html

Stuart Dredge: https://musically.com/2020/05/13/what-are-user-centric-music-streaming-payouts/

Anti-Racist Podcasts

Find more Anti-Racist Resources Here


All My Relations

An interview-based podcast about the Indigenous experience that is hosted by two Native women, Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene, who describe the show as a place to “discuss our relationships as Native peoples—relationships to land, to ancestors, and to each other.” On each episode, Wilbur and Keene talk with their guest(s) about issues that affect Indigenous communities. Launched in February, the show has covered indigenous feminism, food sovereignty, and DNA tests, among other topics. As of this writing, there are eight episodes, so the hosts are just getting started, and I’m excited to see where they go.

The Nod

Uplifts Black experiences in the U.S. and abroad. I like this one because the hosts Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings truly do tell the type of stories that are not told elsewhere. For example, in episodes over the last couple years, the hosts have told stories about everything from Josephine Baker’s “rainbow tribe” to an oral history of the song “Knuck If You Buck.” Where else have you heard or read those stories? Probably nowhere.

The Stoop

Highlights Blackness by digging deeper into stories that we don’t hear enough about. Hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba discuss what it means to be Black and how we talk about our Black experiences through conversations between the two, as well as experts and Black people across the diaspora. A recent episode examined the wordhotep,”—its meaning and how its use has changed over the years.

Identity Politics

In this show, co-hosts Ikhlas Saleem and Makkah Ali talk about race, gender, and Muslim life in the United States. They cover topics ranging from politics to pop culture, inviting guests to discuss issues that affect their lives as Muslims, along with the multiple other identities that intersect with their religion. On pop culture, the hosts recently had filmmaker Nijla Mu’min on as a guest. They discussed Mu’min’s debut feature film Jinn, which is a coming-of-age story about a Black Muslim girl. And more recently, they interviewed Malika Hook Muhammad, a D.C.-based doula who talked about how the medical system fails women of color and what she and others are doing to make better outcomes.

AAPF and Kimberle Crenshaw present: Intersectionality matters!

The podcast that brings intersectionality to life

Latinos Who Lunch 

Hosts FavyFav and Babelito discuss issues related to the intersectionality between queer, Latinx, and Spanglish voices. They approach topics that include identity, food, family, and history in a responsible and humorous way. In a recent episode, the hosts talk with Edgar Villanueva (who we’ve also interviewed) about decolonizing wealth, the topic of his book of the same name. In another episode, they discuss fat representation in the media with hosts of the podcast Cabronas y Chingonas.

Long Distance Radio: Stories from the Filipino Diaspora

Long Distance Radio explores what it means to be Filipino outside of the Philippines— if you lived there and left, or if you’ve never been there. Its creator Paola Mardo and co-producer Patrick Epino aim for each episode to “[move] beyond typical immigrant narratives to share thoughtful tales of love, loss, history, and humor.” In its first season, episodes have covered what it means to be unapologetically Filipino American and the history and future of Little Manila in Stockton, California.

Self Evident: Asian America’s Stories

Look out for Self Evident, a show that is in the works. Its creators already started reporting and recently wrapped a crowdfunding campaign to support its production. Self-Evident will to tell stories about “what it means to be American, by telling stories by and about Asian Americans.” On the podcast’s Instagram page, the team has been posting episode sneak peeks. They plan to explore the complexity of “Asian American” identity, internalized racism, and the American dream.

CODE SWITCH

Code Switch is a podcast that tackles issues of race head-on. Race and pop culture. Race and sports. Race and politics. Whatever the intersection, hosts Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby dive into difficult conversations, bringing honesty and nuance to subjects including confronting racism among friends, “mixed-status” families who face deportation, the ban on cockfighting in Puerto Rico, xenophobia against Asian Americans, and a plan for reparations.

Listen: “What Does ‘Hood Feminism’ Mean for a Pandemic?,” a conversation with author Mikki Kendall about what feminism practiced by women of color can teach the mainstream feminist movement.

SMALL DOSES WITH AMANDA SEALES 

Amanda Seales tackles serious issues of racism, sexism, police brutality, and addiction, infusing thorny conversations with humanity and wit. Balancing such fare with humor is no easy feat, but Seales, who has a master’s in African American studies from Columbia, does it deftly.

IT’S BEEN A MINUTE

It’s Been a Minute describes itself as “a talk show with a heart”—but it’s a show that also has brains and courage. Hosted by the wildly charismatic Sam Sanders, It’s Been a Minute features lively conversations with celebrities, writers, and other public figures including Samin Nosrat, Nicole Byer, Regina King, Maya Erskine, and Jeremy O. Harris. Sanders also hosts weekly wraps of the news with other journalists, reporting on coronavirus, Capitol Hill, the U.S. census, and more.

WHAT A DAY 

Akilah Hughes breaks down the biggest news stories of the day with precision and humor. The hosts of What a Day know that listeners are busy (or just have short attention spans), so they pack reportage, analysis, and often a healthy amount of jokes into 15-minute episodes.

Listen: “Racism Cont’d,” a serious episode that addresses the murder of George Floyd and the confrontation of Christian Cooper this week. It’s an urgent listen that should be followed with a read of Hughes’s accompanying Instagram post.

STILL PROCESSING 

Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham—a critic-at-large for the New York Times and a culture writer for the New York Times Magazine, respectively—discuss all things culture, each episode providing a smart exploration of current trends and events. There’s a particular focus on television and film, which will please pop-culture fans who crave dedicated analyses of all their favorites: one episode compares the T.V. show Watchmen to the movie Parasite, while another examines the portrayal of masculinity as mental illness in Joker, Succession, and Fight Club.

JEMELE HILL IS UNBOTHERED 

Jemele Hill, a former ESPN reporter and SportsCenter anchor, made waves in 2017 when she called President Donald Trump a “white supremacist” on Twitter and was subsequently suspended from her post at the sports network. She brings this same tenacity to her podcast, which is about to launch its second season. Unbothered was born out of Hill’s desire to “have interesting conversations with compelling people,” and the first season’s guests included notable figures such as Stacey Abrams, Soledad O’Brien, Lakeith Stanfield, Trina, Snoop Dogg, Cory Booker, and Larry Wilmore. Honest and unfiltered, Hill applies her interviewing expertise to the realms of news, pop culture, and politics.

1619 

Nikole Hannah-Jones recently won a Pulitzer Prize for creating this ongoing initiative, which reexamines the legacy of slavery in the United States (the title refers to the year, 401 years ago, that the first enslaved Africans arrived in America). Rigorously researched, well-written, and artfully produced, the show lays bare the often-overlooked history of black America.

Listen: “The Economy That Slavery Built,” which reveals how the institution of slavery turned America into a financial powerhouse.

HEAR TO SLAY

Best-selling authors Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist) and Tressie McMillan Cottom (Thick) team up with executive producer Keisha Dutes to bring their incisive cultural commentary to audio, hosting guests who have included Nobel Peace Prize winners, comedians, journalists, politicians, and showrunners alike. The podcast also benefits from the fact that both hosts are college professors, meaning they are experts at facilitating conversations that are directed, yet still feel candid and off the cuff. Listeners should note that this podcast is only available through a subscription to Luminary—however, they can sign up for a seven-day free trial.

Racist Sandwich 

focuses on race, gender, and class within the food industry.

Ear Hustle

shares the daily realities of life inside prison shared by those living it, and stories from the outside, post-incarceration.

Me and White Supremacy

Download a PDF

Me and White Supremacy – Layla F. Saad (1)

Anti-Racism Resources for White People

 


Find More Anti-Racist Resources Here

Five Anti-Racist Actions for White People

Compiled by Showing Up For Racial Justice

Join a group or deepen your commitment to one.

Individualism is what got us into this situation, and only collective action will create the solutions we need. Now more than ever, we must take action together to force systemic change. Join your local SURJ chapter or other groups in your community that push systems (like the local, state, and federal government) to protect and care for the most vulnerable, especially in these times.

Support efforts in your community to get people out of jails and detention centers

And to stop local police from issuing new citations, incarcerating people pre-trial, and re-incarcerating people for probation/parole violations. Sign up for SURJ’s action updates on how you can take action from your home on these issues. Follow organizations that are leading on this issue, and find the groups in your community such as Color of Change, Dignity and Power Now, Justice LA, and Women on the Rise. If you’re a member of a group that doesn’t usually focus on these issues, bring them to their attention, and encourage them to make these actions a priority. Here’s just one take on why this is so important.

Interrupt racist stories about who is to blame.

Push back on people who use coded or racist language to talk about this moment. Where we get our news is important. It shifts the frame of the issues. Pay attention to progressive-leaning news sources rather than only the corporate news media. Some examples include Democracy Now and the Irresistible Podcast. Seek out articles written by disabled & Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color activists in your community.

Fight to protect our elections.

Events across the country are being canceled or postponed, and in many locations, governments are implementing “shelter in place” recommendations or requirements. As a result, many states are taking measures to postpone elections rather than finding creative ways, like mail-in ballots, to ensure our democratic freedom while adhering to the public health guidance. Meanwhile, the upcoming election still needs our attention. We still need to mobilize millions of voters across the country to vote against Trump. You can help by getting involved in your local progressive campaigns and/or calling and texting white voters in Georgia and Pennsylvania with SURJ. A simple first step is to take the Collect Our Cousins Pledge. If you are part of a local SURJ chapter, encourage members of your chapter to sign on to the Commitment Form.

Participate in a mutual aid project or fund.

If you are able, donate money to a mutual-aid fund or initiate mutual aid with your immediate neighbors. Mutual-aid funds link people with resources to those who need resources during a crisis. This can help cover costs of rent, medication, food, and other needs for people who lack a safety net. If you have a surplus of food or hygiene supplies, donate to a mutual aid group, food pantry, or a community organization that is distributing goods to vulnerable people in your community. (Please be sure that they NEED what you have — don’t assume!). Practice mutual aid by reaching out to three people on your street. Give them your contact info and let them know you can call each other to ask for help with groceries, prescriptions, etc. Here’s a template if you need a starting point. Join with local grassroots POC-led organizing for mutual aid in your area or follow your local SURJ chapter for ideas.


For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies Being an ally requires you to educate yourself about systemic racism in this country.

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

Anti-Racism Resources was created by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein for “white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now. Feel free to circulate this document on social media.”

White People 4 Black Lives (WP4BL) is a white anti-racist collective and activist project. We operate within a national network of white anti-racists called Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

Guide to Allyship An evolving open-source guide to help you become a more thoughtful and effective ally.

Infographic guide on white privilege

Your Guide to Bystander Intervention

The Intersectionality Wars

 A guide to white privilege

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