Feel Good Friday - Movement for Black Lives

Today's Feel Good Friday falls on Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. The Movement for Black Lives has put together a list of events for Juneteenth which I'll share at the end of the post after we learn about M4BL.

Formed in 2014, M4BL is "a national network of over 150 organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn, organize, and take action."

Their website explains that M4BL was created "as a space for Black organizations across the country to debate and discuss the current political conditions, develop shared assessments of what political interventions were necessary in order to achieve key policy, cultural and political wins, convene organizational leadership in order to debate and co-create a shared movement wide strategy. Under the fundamental idea that we can achieve more together than we can separately."

Their work is organized around six areas: policy, organizing/base building, electoral justice, the rising majority, culture, and resource. Groups within those areas organize strategy and programming that supports M4BL's long term visions.

These visions are outlined in a 5-year plan titled Black Power Rising 2024. Goals include: mass engagement (of 4 million Black people in the US), local power (establishing self-determined Black communities), building across movements/multiracial strategy, leadership development (training 500,000 Black organizers, activists and strategists) and an electoral strategy that aims to prevent the rise of white-nationalist and authoritarian rule.

Read more about M4BL's specific policy platforms at this link and visit this page to find out how you can create a customized week of action in defense of Black lives. From low risk activities like donating to bail funds or organizing a Twitter storm, through higher risk activities such as engaging in civil disobedience, there are many options of how you can participate and resources to help you.

If you want your activities to coincide with Juneteenth, here is the promised list of resources so you can find an event near you! 6.19

If you'd like to support the work of M4BL directly, you can join a virtual event, make a donation and amplify their message by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @Mvmnt4BlkLives.