Resources to Honor and Celebrate Black Lives

At SignUpGenius, our mission is and always has been to empower people to change the world by making it simple to organize groups. Because of what we do, we have a front-row seat to watch how people invest in their communities and support causes they care about.

We have spent the last several weeks focusing on internal conversations surrounding how we can care for our minority coworkers, family members and friends. We've also been making sure our site can continue to empower people to change their communities - and we've seen you use sign ups to power the fight against racism. We commit to not only addressing what is going on in the moment but striving toward long-term change.

We want to be clear: Black Lives Matter, and we recognize that our society has a long way to go in the fight against racism. We as a company are committed to continuing to learn and activate change. In the words of Angela Davis, "In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist."

Below you can find a collection of powerful resources for learning about and taking a stand against racism in our communities, organizations, schools and beyond — and examples of how you're creating sign ups to change our world from racist to anti-racist.

Resources for Parents

This list is adapted from these resources on Good Good Good and these anti-racism resources.

Books, Podcasts and Articles

• Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners - books for children and young adults
• Fare of the Free Child podcast
• A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory
• "Raising White Kids with Jennifer Harvey" on Integrated Schools podcast
• Teaching Your Child About Black History by Nefertiti Austin on PBS.org
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• Why We Shouldn't Teach Kids to Be Color Blind by Liz Rothaus Bertrand on Charlotte Parent

Resources for Educators

This list is adapted from this open-source Google doc with anti-racism resources and lesson plans for educators. We also recommend Teaching Tolerance as a long-term resource for educators.

Books, Podcasts and Articles

• For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education by Christopher Emdin
• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
• A Conversation About Instructional Equity with Zaretta Hammond on Collaborative Classroom
• This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell
• How to Be an Anti-Racist Educator by Dena Simmons
• Teaching While White podcast
• Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools by Glenn Singleton
• Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald
• The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism & Engage in Collecting Healing by Anneliese Singh

Black Lives Matter Sign Ups

From protest volunteers to jail support to meaningful conversations and resource drop-offs, it's been encouraging to see the ways people are using sign ups to pursue anti-racism. If anyone needs assistance creating sign ups, we have a list of FAQ help guides — and our Support team is ready to help if you contact us.

If you're creating a protest sign up, Black Lives Matter Honolulu created a great template with slots for de-escalation marshals, stations along the protest path providing water, snacks and first aid for protestors, along with shifts for medics and legal aid.

Indy Jail Support created a sign up for volunteers willing to take shifts to staff a 24-hour jail support table outside the City-County Building to provide support and resources to individuals released from the jail. They also shared Zoom links where volunteers can participate in a 30-minute orientation session to learn about volunteer expectations and safety planning.

Not only do Black lives matter, they are beautiful and vital. We are committed to the long-term fight against racism both as a company and a community, so that lives that have been previously pushed to the margins can be fully celebrated, appreciated and honored.

We want to thank Nikki Williams-Rucker for her contributions to this post. Check out her work with The MSK Experience, a nonprofit that has helped 2,000 girls get to and through college. We also recommend her Genius Expert post about teaching Black history.