A Message in Solidarity with the Black Community

Photo by Donovan Valdivia on Unsplash

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To the Make School community,

We have been following the protests uniting our country over the last couple of weeks. The bravery among all those fighting for black lives is inspiring. We demand justice for George Floyd, justice for all the innocent men and women killed by the police, and support the calls for our government to take concrete action towards ending police brutality against the black community in America.

Make School exists to provide avenues of upward mobility for students of all backgrounds, especially those underrepresented in the tech industry. We cannot achieve our mission if we do not do our part to dismantle the systemic racism that affects so many in our community. 

To start, it is time to listen and learn. We are learning from the following resources on the history of racism in the United States and how best to be an ally:

• Anti-Racism Resource Guide - a comprehensive resource for lifelong learning
• Justice in June - daily learning through the month of June
• Guide to Allyship - helping allies learn how to support the black community

We also want to share with all of you a list of resources to help you support the black community:

• An extensive list of resources - National Resource List
• How and where to donate
  • Bail Funds
    • National Bail Fund Network
    • Bail Funds by State
  • Organizations working to end police violence
    • Campaign Zero
    • Equal Justice Initiative
    • Center for Policing Equity
  • Organizations working to support and uplift the black community
    • Know Your Rights Camp
    • Black Futures Lab
    • NAACP
    • Black Lives Matter
  • Split your donation between 70+ funds/organizers
• Black-owned/led businesses and organizations to support
  • Bay Area
    • A searchable list of black-owned restaurants in San Francisco
  • Nationally
    • Directory of black-owned businesses
    • Directory of women-led, black-owned businesses
    • Supporting Black Coders
    • Supporting Black Designers
    • Supporting Black Founders

While the protests of these past weeks have done much-needed work in raising awareness for the current issues, the work is by no means done. We are taking the time to listen and process and will update our community with more concrete steps we are taking in support of the movement over the coming weeks.

Best, The Make School Team

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