Black Lives Matter
DONATE
ACLU: non-profit legal and advocacy group defending civil rights
Black Lives Matter: an international human rights movement that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards Black people
Black Visions Collective: an organization that develops Minnesota’s emerging Black leadership
Bail Project: provides free bail assistance to low-income individuals who are legally presumed innocent
Brooklyn Community Bail Fund: provides bail assistance to presumptively innocent New Yorkers and challenges wealth-based detention
Color of Change: nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization
National Bail Out:: organization working to end systems of pretrial detention and mass incarceration
NAACP: civil rights organization that works towards ensuring all individuals have equal rights without racial discrimination
Reclaim the Block: Minneapolis community that organizes to move money from the police department into other areas of the city
VOTE
Ballotpedia: non-profit digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections
National Conference of State Legislatures: bipartisan research on public policy issues facing state governments
SHOP
Black Owned Restaurants in Brooklyn - compiled by Rachel Karten
Black Owned Restaurants in LA - compiled by Kat Hong
Black Owned Bookstores - compiled by Chelsea Kravitz
SIGN
TEXT
Text “Justice” to 668366: This demands that all four cops involved in Floyd’s death should be charged with murder and held fully accountable
Text “Floyd” to 55156: This links you to Color of Change’s petition, which will send a letter to District Attorney Michael Freeman demanding the arrest and murder charge of the four officers.
MORE RESOURCES
The End of Policing, by Alex S. Vitale, free ebook
Patia’s Fantasy World Master List of Resources on How to Dismantle Systemic Racism
Anti-racism Packet by Jasmine Mitchell
Advocacy Toolkit for Safe and Effective Policing
Obama Foundation Anguish and Action
A NOTE FROM PHOEBE + PETER
Dear Friends,
Like many of you, we put our work on hold recently (even that is a privilege) to focus on and support Black voices. There’s so much to learn, and unlearn. We’ve been awed by the speed and breadth of the changes set in motion already. What will be achieved in a season / year / decade?
Over the years Cold Picnic has become an increasingly political brand, possibly due to the fact that the lines between personal and professional inevitably blur when a brand consists solely of a married couple working out of their home (although we now have a wonderful Sales Manager who works remotely on the other side of the country). In a capitalist society, where we spend our money is a political act. On a personal level, we’ve been taking care to spend our money on companies whose ideals we respect. As a brand selling decidedly non-essential goods, we want the same for you. In the past we’ve worked towards this primarily through raising money with our customers, whether by a percentage of web sales or designating profits from specific items. We felt connected to you through this gesture of mutual activism, and it felt good.
But there’s been a shift; although the fight is not new, it is different. We realize our previous efforts did not take into account our roles in sustaining the racist systems our country was built on. We move forward with a growing awareness of our personal culpability, and the realization that we give not because we are good but because we are not good enough, and we want to be better.
We still want to be connected with you in this way, but donations are only a start. Lasting change will take time, stamina and constant readjustment.
We commit ourselves to continue signing petitions, emailing/calling lawmakers, VOTING, working towards defunding the police and fighting against the current administration. We commit ourselves to continuing to raise money and awareness towards racial inequality and against white supremacy. But above all we commit ourselves to consciously supporting Black lives and all of the education, introspection and conversations this will entail on a daily basis, both personally and professionally.
With Love,
Phoebe and Peter