Dear community members,
Our very own Professor Alves from UCSB Black Studies Department has reached out for help. Please see the message below!
Greetings:
Solidarity is needed!
As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic is devastating black communities around the African Diaspora. Haiti has only 60 ventilators for its 11 million inhabitants; in the overcrowded favelas of Brazil, the Black population is disproportionately dying due to the lack of access to healthcare while seeing their living conditions deteriorating even further. In Colombia, the Black population is struggling with extreme poverty, unemployment and target assassinations as paramilitary groups take advantage of the quarantine to kill black and Indigenous social activists.
As our grieving communities mourn the loved ones and struggle to provide basic means of subsistence to those most in need, we join their effort in an international call to protect Black lives. This is an urgent call for your donation (any contribution) through this platform to assist black communities in Brazil and Colombia to purchase food, hygiene, and cleaning supplies.
Asociacion de Mujeres Negras “El Chontaduro:” You can make your contribution to this Black women’s black grassroots here
Uneafro: You can make your contribution to Black communities in Brazil here
Now is the time to bridge what we have learned in the classroom with concrete action toward racial and social justice. We hope we can count on you. If you are unable to make a donation through the provided links and still want to contribute, you may contact our Brazilian ( +55 11 94759-2723 ) and Colombian (+57 310 7080254) grassroots through Whatsup. For further information about this campaign, you may also contact me through the email jaimealves@ucsb.edu
Let’s stand together to beat coronavirus and structural racism!
Stay home, stay healthy, stay In solidarity!
Jaime Alves