Black Lives Matter (Page in Progress)

Neon Queen Collective stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and all those who have fought tirelessly for Black lives long before now.

We collectively and vehemently affirm that BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Our collective has been and will remain committed to uplift, support, and show up for our colleagues and the greater BLM movement.

The recent deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and many others at the hands of police brutality and the racial injustice that follows have sent shockwaves through our nation and our communities at an already challenging time. The list of Black lives that have been lost to state-sanctioned violence dates back to centuries of oppression from slavery and Jim Crow to mass incarceration.

We are part of a society where the lives of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color continue to be blighted by structural racism, lack of opportunity, health disparities, and direct violence by agents of the state and others. 

Now more than ever, we have seen how the country has failed Black communities. The pandemic has disproportionately taken the lives of Black communities—making visible the deeply rooted racial disparities in both public health and police surveillance. It is clear we are in a moment of crisis. There is no doubt that Black communities are hurting everywhere, especially during these turbulent and violent past few weeks. We are grieving with you and see your pain.

The United States of America was built on slavery, colonization, and genocide. It is not an accident that Black and Brown people are killed on the streets at the hands of the police and are dying at higher rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is systemic racism.

We maintain that the fight for Black lives and the work of disassembling systems of white supremacy are interwoven with issues of immigrant, indigenous, environmental, economic, trans, and disability rights.

We must actively engage in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, whether it be through donating to bail funds and memorial funds, signing petitions, emailing government officials, spreading awareness, educating ourselves about Black history, defunding the police, and having intimate conversations within our own households—recognizing that our liberation is tied together.

We pledge to fight back against white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy—the systems that created the climate crisis and leave black communities in the United States in a constant state of crisis of state-sanctioned violence, mass incarceration, and poverty.

The fight will be long, but we will stand in solidarity alongside the movement to create a world where Black communities will be safe and free. It is now our turn to uplift, support, and show up for a community we honor and owe our legacy to.

REading

Here we will link to syllabi, resources, and other educational materials for people at any stage in their anti-racist journey

Looking

Here we will share information about artworks that inspire us, bring us joy, and push us to think about race, history, and identity in nuanced ways

engaging

Here we will share resources for action, organizations where you can donate money or time, events that are coming up, and other ways to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement