Beyond the yard sign: ways you can support Black lives today.
Sign Opal Lee's petition: make Juneteenth a national day of observance.
Opal Lee is a 93-year-old woman from Fort Worth, TX, who is pushing for Congress to recognize June 19, Juneteenth, as a national holiday.
Juneteenth originated in Texas and today 46 states commemorate June 19 as the end of slavery.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson authored legislation in 2012 to update US Code 36 that lists all the national observances to include Juneteenth. Now, it needs to be updated and passed into law.
Lee's goal is to show the Congress and the President that she is not alone in her desire to see national recognition of a day to celebrate “Freedom for All”.
You can hear an interview with Opal Lee this Friday night during Evanston's virtual Juneteenth parade, which begins at 6 p.m. Watch the livestream on Dear Evanston, or on Evanston Present and Future, or on You Tube.
Support Evanston's Reparations Initiative
Contribute to Evanston's Reparations Initiative and email Dear Evanston if you're interested in working on spreading the word to help raise funds for reparations in Evanston. Learn more here.
Read the Evanston Roundtable's report from last week's Reparations Subcommittee meeting here.
Support Evanston's Black-owned businesses.
Find the Black Business Consortium of Evanston/North Shore's directory here.
Learn more about what it means to "defund police" and what that could look like in Evanston.
Watch last night's panel discussion on policing and race hosted by Evanston City Clerk Devon Reid and featuring EPD Chief Demitrous Cook, Open Society Foundation Fellow and former Chicago alderman Ameya Pawar, NU African American Studies Professor Dr. Chris Harris, Clinical Professor of Law at Northwestern University and Director of the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic Sheila Bedi; and Adam Marquardt, an ETHS 2018 graduate, community activist ,and police abolitionist who was recommended by the organizers at Evanston Fight for Black Lives.
Read the background and sign the petition created by the young leaders at Evanston Fight for Black Lives calling on the Mayor and City Council to defund the police.
During last night's meeting, Chief Cook said, "Law enforcement is here at the request of the public, and how the public wants us to interact is their decision ... if you want to put that money [elsewhere], to take some of that weight off [the police force], and [the police] can get back to maybe doing just felony type cases, that’s a decision the public will have to make."
Mark your calendar for Evanston's virtual Juneteenth parade!
Mark your calendars and make sure to tune in to Evanston's virtual Juneteenth parade this Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m. Again, watch the livestream on Dear Evanston, or on Evanston Present and Future, or on You Tube.
Photo: Black Lives Matter yard sign by Ben Blount. Order your signs here.
Find out more about Ben’s art at his website Blount Objects (he is an amazing artist).
For the month of June, contributions from sign sales will go to the James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy and Brave Space Alliance.
