Hey folks — this is important.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was recently murdered by police in Minneapolis when an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Three other officers stood idly by and watched as their colleague murdered Floyd, who spent his last moments pleading that he can't breathe.

r/hudsonvalley stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and supports the protests that have sprung up against the issues of systemic racism and police brutality in the here in our region and throughout the United States.

I'm sure you've all seen donation links and whatnot thrown around everywhere else online, so I'll mostly spare you the trouble. I personally recommend and support The Bail Project, which can be found at https://bailproject.org/. We applaud and support those of you who have been able to donate to any relevant charities, organizations, and bail funds.

Additionally, we fully support those of you who have chosen to take to the streets and protest. The only way we can make change is by organizing and demonstrating that we won't accept a status quo that allows for police officers to brutalize or murder innocent people or without any repercussions.

If you're unable to donate or protest, that's okay too. Talking to friends and family and educating yourself and others is a huge part of activism as well, and I'd like to extend my support to those of you who have been engaging in conversations with others or yourself that can often be difficult.

Aside from the donation links being passed around and the general sentiment of support, I'd like to also provide some further reading that I recommend for a better grasp on what's going on:

• Spreadsheet containing links to nearly 400 instances of police brutality caught on video during the protests
  • Pretty self-explanatory. They're brutal and gruesome, so discretion is advised.
• Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
  • If you haven't read this before, MLK perfectly sums up the problem with the "white moderate" response to protests for black liberation. Highly recommended.
• Who Exactly Is Doing the Looting, and Who’s Being Looted? by David Sirota
  • This article analyzes the narrative around "looting" during the protests.
• A Case for Defunding the Police by Jenny Lee
  • This is just a few slides on Instagram but it's honestly the most succinct summary of the case for defunding over reform that you'll find.

Reminder: Hate speech of ANY kind (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and more) will NOT be tolerated on r/hudsonvalley and you will be banned if you violate this guideline. Hopefully I don't need to tell you all that.

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