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Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matter explains how the 3 core tenets of the Black Xmas campaign are building Black, buying Black, and banking Black.

The holiday season is in full swing, with Christmas carols on the radio and shopping sales luring customers to spend their cash. In spite of rising inflation,retail numbers are highand economists predict a robust Black Friday sales surge. But this year, rather than giving into the consumerist pressure of the season, theBlack Xmascampaign started by Black Lives Matter Los Angeles urges shoppers to use their dollars wisely and in service of racial justice.

In November 2013, Melina Abdullah, one of the founders of Black Xmas, wrote the following in a Facebookpost four months after the formation ofBlack Lives Matter:

Under capitalism, we are trained to compete rather than cooperate, to hoard rather than share, and to hate rather than love. Capitalism breeds a coarse, cold, cruel world. As revolutionaries, we are charged with transforming the system. Living a life of loving kindness is a good first step. #BeKind.

Abdullah is a professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. A prominent leader inBLMLA, she helped start the Black Xmas campaign to promote Black-led organizations and Black-owned businesses and banks during the holiday season.

Abdullah spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar about how the campaign was started and what it aims to do.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Kolhatkar: Did the Facebook post you wrote in November 2013 express the philosophical basis for theBlack Xmascampaign?

Abdullah: Theres always been an analysis of the relationship between racism and capitalism. Malcolm X says you cannot have capitalism without racism, and thats absolutely a truism that we see emerge in this Black Lives Matter movement/moment.

When we were birthed, BLM had a critique of capitalism, and understood that capitalism necessitates harm brought on Black communities and the exploitation of Black labor, exploitation of Black consumers, exploitation of people of color. We understood that from the very beginning.

With the murder ofJohn Crawfordinside a Walmart store [in Ohio], it really brought everything home. It helped us to understand that as we confront systems of policing, as we recognize police as the descendants of slave catchers, we also have to think about them as protectors of capital and protectors of the ownership class and how that steals Black life, including the life of Crawford.

We also began to think about the role of White supremacist capitalism and the theft of Black life. And so, we birthed Black Xmas and really tried to get Black people to be conscious of the way in which we use our dollars and our resources. Are we feeding a system of White supremacy that steals Black Life, or are we using resources to really build stronger Black communities?

Remember that you dont just have to be in a frenzy and run into these stores and buy people things that they dont need. You can use your dollars to really build strong Black communities.

Over the last six years, Black Xmas has had three core tenets: Building Black, Buying Black, and Banking Black.

Take Building Black. Rather than buying people things, think about what your mother would want other than, say, a sweater. Maybe your mother is a lover of the arts, and maybe she would be grateful if you would donate in her name to theFernando Pullum Community Arts Center,which provides free arts programs for Black children.

Maybe your aunt is a survivor of domestic violence, and maybe she would appreciate a donation in her name to theJenesse Center,which provides housing and resources for survivorsespecially Black women survivorsof domestic violence.

Thats really what Black Xmas is about. Its about shaking off the chains of consumerism and confronting White capitalism but also building new traditions.

Kolhatkar: Is there a reason why its Black Xmas and not Christmas?

Abdullah: Well, Im not that Christian, but I was absolutely raised in a Christian church by a mother who still practices Christianity, by a family thats largely Christian.

And we have to remember that the largest groups of Muslimsthe plurality of Muslims in this countryare Black. We have to remember that there are a lot of Black folks who dont identify with Christianity, and even Christians who dont practice Christmas. So, we wanted it to be as inclusive as possible.

We call the holiday season a Season of Giving, and we actually have, on our Black Xmas website, cards that people can download that say, This season of giving, please donate in my name rather than buying me a gift. So Black Xmas is being used as a more inclusive term for people who practice Christmas, for people who practice Kwanzaa or any other holiday during this season, or no holiday at all, but still want to practice giving and building Black communities.

Kolhatkar: In addition to making donations to organizations, what about also supporting Black entrepreneurs and artists?

Abdullah: The second tenet of Black Xmas is Buying Black. Sometimes, your mother really does need a sweater. Rather than giving your money to Macys, you can go toNobody Jonesor other Black boutiques.

Rather than buying from Amazon, a company that we know exploits its workers, you can go to small Black-owned bookstores, likeEso Won Books orMalik Books.

Did you know that theres a Black-owned skateboard shop? If your kid really needs a skateboard for the holidays, you can go toThe Rad Black Kidsand buy a skateboard. The brother there who started Rad Black Kids has intentionally based his business in Compton and employs Compton residents to work there.

So rather than going to businesses that dont value Black people, that dont contribute to the building of Black community, we have a pretty strong list of Black organizations and businesses that youcan buy from.

Kolhatkar: What about the third tenet of Banking Black?

Abdullah: Remembering where our dollars are housed is also important. So if you bank atCitibank, you are financing our oppression. If you bank atBank of America or Wells Fargo, you need to think about how they invest in private prisons and ask, are your dollars being used for the financing of environmental degradation, like the Dakota Access Pipeline and other problematic projects? So we encourage people to move their money toBlack-owned banks.

Kolhatkar: Is engaging with Black Xmas this year a chance for non-Black people who say Black Lives Matter to prove it?

Abdullah: Put your money where your mouth isliterally. So if you want to say Black Lives Matter, make Black lives matter by investing in Black communities.

We know throughout the pandemic about 40% of Black-owned businesses permanently shuttered. This is a way of supporting those that remained and investing in those that are seeking to emerge coming back out of this pandemic.

A lot of Black folks also lost their jobs, so theyre launching new businesses. So this is a way for all people all around the world to really make Black lives matter.

Kolhatkar: How do you square your critique of capitalism by encouraging people to still engage in consumerism but just narrow it to Black-owned businesses and banks?

Abdullah: Were not seeking to create richer Black capitalists. When we say Buy Black, were really looking at small Black-owned businesses. Most Black-owned businesses have 12 employees, and oftentimes, the employees are the owners and the owners families. This is not about enriching Black capitalists. This is about building strong Black communities so that we can have a degree of autonomy and self-determination.

When we think also about what Black-owned businesses do for the Black community, theymore than any other type of businessalso create livable-wage jobs for other Black people. I think about restaurants in Los Angeles, likeSimply Wholesome, which intentionally employsreturning citizens.

So this is not about trading Black capitalism for White capitalism. This is about really thinking about what cooperative economics the principle of Ujamaa is and how we can use our dollars to begin to create those systems.

Kolhatkar: The Black Xmas website lists businesses in Southern California, including Los Angeles and Long Beach. But it also includes South Bend, Indiana, and Michigan. What is the geographic reach of the campaign?

Abdullah: Black Lives Matter is a global movement, which means many of our chapters are becoming involved in Black Xmas. The campaign originated in Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, which was the first chapter of Black Lives Matter and is still the largest one. But other BLM chapters are also engaging. All of the BLM chapters in Michigan and BLM in South Bend, Indiana, are also participating.

If businesses want to be featured, they can send an email to[emailprotected]. Were still trying to carry the bulk of the work, but if they email us, regardless of where they are, well look at their business, and if we have a chapter there, we can feature their business on our social media platforms.

Were not the only organization that does Buy Black work. There is a website calledWeBuyBlack.comthat has things like laundry detergent, batteries, and toilet paper! All of these things that you probably didnt know exist as Black-owned businesses.

Many of the businesses that we feature are online rather than solely brick-and-mortar. So you can always order online.

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How to Show Solidarity with Black Lives Matter this Holiday Season - YES! Magazine

Outside a Georgia courthouse on Wednesday, the father of Ahmaud Arbery spoke to the press after three men were convicted of murdering his son.

Some outlets and reporters have misquoted Marcus Arbery Sr., however, suggesting he used a controversial slogan that is associated with criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Several tweets claiming that Arbery had said "all lives matter" went viral.

What he actually said was "all life matter" as he spoke about not wanting another family to lose a child the way he had lost his son.

"We conquered that lynch mob," he said outside the Glynn County Courthouse. "We got that lynch mob letting you know that Black kid's life don't matter.

"For real, all life matter, not just Black children. We don't want to see nobody go through this. I don't want to see no daddy watch their kid get lynched or shot down like that. So, it's all our problem. It's all our problem.

"So, hey, let's keep fighting, let's keep making this place a better place for all human beings. All human beings. Everybody. Love everybody. All human beings need to be treated equally. We're going to conquer this lynching. Today is a good day."

Black Lives Matter also celebrated the verdicts. "GUILTY! We uplift the Spirit of #AhmaudArbery and send love to his family," the organization posted on Twitter.

"Deep appreciation to all who organized, protested, ran, posted, and prayed. Every effort ushered in as much justice as could be had. May this victory inspire the continued struggle for Black freedom."

Ahmaud Arbery's name became a rallying cry during the racial justice protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in May 2020.

Arbery's death in February 2020 had attracted limited attention at first, but video of the fatal shooting posted online sparked an outcry.

On Wednesday, after about 10 hours of deliberation, a mostly white jury convicted Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan of Arbery's murder. All three face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

The McMichaels had grabbed guns and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue the 25-year-old after seeing him running in their neighborhood outside Brunswick.

Federal authorities have also charged the men with hate crimes, alleging they chased and killed Arbery because he was Black. That case will go to trial in February.

Ben Crump, an attorney who represents Marcus Arbery Sr, and Black Lives Matter have been contacted for comment.

The rest is here:
No, Ahmaud Arbery's Father Did Not Say 'All Lives Matter' - Newsweek

The COVID-19 pandemic has created major challenges for businesses across the globe, but the head of Nova Scotia's Black Business Initiative (BBI) said there has also been positive change.

The Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and Canada was unlike anything Rustum Southwellhad seen in his time with the Halifax-based business development organization, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week.

"There was a strange set of circumstances that caused people to be at home for COVID, looking at TV and so on, to see ... the brutality that was happening in the U.S. And that awoke many folks who wanted to help," said Southwell, who has been with BBI since it launched in 1996 and serves as interim CEO.

Suddenly, in the middle of a pandemic,BBI wasswamped with calls from people looking to support Black businesses, or companies looking for advice on how to become more inclusive.

Celebrating 25 years is a significantachievement, said Southwell.BBI's original goal of making sure Black entrepreneurs are supported in life, as well as in business, remains just as vital today.

The organizationreceives funding from the federal and provincial governments to deliver a huge range of training, grants, mentorshipand other programs.

BBI also works withbusinesses and services to set up anonline presence, often for the first time. Helping people move into the digital age ensures they will also be around for decades to come.

"The systemic challenges of racism and marginalization on top of that makes it a little bit more difficult for Black-owned companies to be hugely successful but we've sustained. There's a lot of companies that have done well," Southwell said.

Tiffani Young received help from BBI when she started her natural cosmetics company, Butter Bar, last year.

Young said BBI has had a huge impact on her business, covering the cost of a pop-up kiosk at the Halifax Shopping Centre, connecting her with fellow entrepreneursand helping her navigate the loan process.

Shesaid BBI is vital because the Black experience is unique, and the organizationunderstands the challenges she might face.

"It's not just about the business ... but also, you know, helping you to build your image, helping you to navigate a world that you may not always see a reflection of yourself in," Young said.

"It's nice to have that support system."

BBI's website notes it is the longest-serving Black business development initiative in Canada.

Its 25th anniversary will be marked by a sold-out gala dinner and awards event Friday evening at a Halifax hotel. The event will also be live streamed.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

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Black Lives Matter 'awoke many folks,' says Black business organization as it marks 25 years - CBC.ca

The killing of George Floyd by a white police officer may have taken place thousands of miles away, but his agonising cry I cant breathe reverberated in the UK, too. In fact, it became the catalyst for the largest wave of anti-racist protests in British history, taking place in more than 260 towns and cities last summer.

These protests were very much rooted in the British experience. Demonstrators carried handmade placards with the names of black Britons killed by the British police; they demanded justice for members of the Windrush generation threatened with deportation and the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire; they decried the high Covid-19 death rate among communities of colour. Statues were toppled, streets renamed and venerable British institutions such as the Bank of England were forced to reckon with their ties to the slave trade. A year later, Black British Lives Matter, edited by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder, takes time to reflect on this extraordinary movement.

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The book comprises essays from 19 prominent black figures, including the historian David Olusoga, the architect David Adjaye, the Labour MP Dawn Butler and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen. It is an effective primer for those keen to understand why Floyds death drove hundreds of thousands of people to the street. The essays offer a 360-degree portrait of the black British experience, taking in health, the criminal justice system, politics, art, journalism, business and education. They interweave the writers lived experiences with their expertise.

This is expressed most powerfully in Lawrences essay, Black British Mothers Matter. She writes about how the tragic events of 22 April 1993, when her 18-year-old son was murdered by a gang of racists, have defined her life since. She had just turned 40. I am aware that to many people I am ageless, she writes. I am ageless in the way that people in the public eye often are frozen in time by a single event I am also ageless because people dont always see me as human.

Her tireless battle to get justice for her son, and force the country to confront the reality of racism, has transformed her into a symbol, but this has also dehumanised her. And I need you to remember my essential humanness and the essential humanness of all Black mothers, she writes. This plea to recognise black Britons humanity recurs throughout the book, from Marverine Coles account of mental ill-health, which deconstructs the devastating consequences of the strong Black woman stereotype, to Ryders closing essay, which describes his own horrific encounters with the police.

So large is the political crisis to which the book is responding that some of the essays only manage to scratch the surface of their subject, while others at times feel repetitive. But what the collection occasionally lacks in depth, it makes up for in range. There is certainly enough variation in style and approach to keep the reader interested.

The essays are most effective when the authors use their experiences and expertise to address a specific problem. Butler laments the smattering of black and Asian representation in overwhelmingly white institutions such as parliament, arguing that, as a result, minorities can easily be pitted against each other. Too often there is one person of colour to argue for a policy that would deny their own parents entry into the UK versus another politician of colour arguing for policies that would benefit other people of colour. A critical mass of black politicians would avoid this.

It is clear, though, that the response to last summers Black Lives Matter protests must go beyond just representation. Protesters called for the dismantling of racism and vowed to weed it out of society. In Olusogas chapter, which is an interview conducted by Henry, the historian admits this surprised him. It never occurred to me that it was even possible. And maybe Im right and theyre wrong, or the other way around. The fact is I put limitations on what I thought was possible; I always presumed racism would always be here, that it was a given.

Perhaps that is what makes this moment critically important, and what makes the breadth of experience reflected in this collection justified: whereas we have become used to simply asking for space to breathe, our imagination has now been expanded. We see that not only is a new world possible, it is ours to win.

Black British Lives Matter is published by Faber (16.99). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Black British Lives Matter edited by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder review - The Guardian

Dr. Melina Abdullah is Professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA and co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles.

This last several days have been heavy and dispiriting. Last Thursday, we breathed a collective sigh of relief that was all too brief. Our days, weeks, months, and years of organizing was successful in having the life ofJulius Jonesbe spared from the death penalty in Oklahoma only hours before his scheduled execution. While the immediate theft of his life was blocked, Governor Stitts final hour clemency remanded Julius to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Julius has been on death row for more than 20 years for a crime that he was falsely accused of committing when he was a 19-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma. Just a day later,Kyle Rittenhouse, who at 17-years-old was driven by his mother across state lines and murdered two Black Lives Matter protestors and injured a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was acquitted on all charges. The criminal legal system protected this vigilante murderer, condoning the premeditatedkillngscommitted at his hands, and made him a hero among white supremacists. Supposed liberals in the establishment gave a nod to Rittenhouse and the system, withPresident Joe Biden affirming, I stand by what the jury has concluded. The jury system works.Here in Los Angeles, Deputy SheriffLuke Liu, the only cop to ever be charged under the tenure of ousted District Attorney Jackie Lacey of the 648 police killings on her watch, was acquitted in the murder of #FranciscoGarcia. This week we are bracing ourselves for the verdict in theMcMichaels v. Bryant case the murderers of #AhmaudArbery in Brunswick, Georgia, whereBlack pastorsand organizers supporting theArberyfamily at the trial have been cast as threats.

In the words of Paul Robeson, The battle front is everywhere. We are experiencing a full-on backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement-moment. Police violence is spiking in Los Angeles (with 61 people shot by LAPD so far this year) and across the country. Instead of defunding the police, police departments are proposing massive increases to their budgets, and elected officials, readying themselves for reelection or their next office, are falling in line. The erosion of Black political power through redistricting is happening everywhere fromGalveston, TXtoLos Angeles. Renewed attacks on ethnic studies in school districts around the country are gaining steam. Environmental racism is global and its effects are near permanent. Racist-misogynist-capitalistDavid Schwartzman was allowed to buy the Crenshaw Mall,despite the superior bid of Downtown Crenshaw. Gentrification is running rampant. Black folks are living in tentscomprising nearly 80% of the population on Skid Row and 40% of the unhoused city-wide and there is no plan to provide permanent-supportive housing. And we are witnessingsupport for Black Lives Matter wane among white folks. These hits can make it seem as if the system of white-supremacist-capitalism has won and is undefeatable.

Rather than retreat, however, now is when we must pause only long enough to restore ourselves and each other. Now is when we must assess the battles that we face and the war to be won. Now is when we must renew our commitment to struggle not simply against white-supremacist-capitalism, but towards imagining and building new visions for the world and for Black people.

Capitalism doesnt love Black people, says Jan Williams, core organizer of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and Downtown Crenshaw. Each of these struggles represent the convergence of white supremacy and a fundamentally exploitative economic system. White-supremacist-capitalism requires violent policing to protect it. Modern-day policing places the same targets on the backs of Black people throughLASER zones, hot spots,and racist policing as the system of chattel-slavery-era paddy rollers from which it hails. White-supremacist-capitalism profits from gentrification, labor exploitation, environmental degradation, prison labor and consumerism. White-supremacist-capitalism is embodied by Walmartinside which both#JohnCrawfordand#StevenTaylors lives were stolen by police. White-supremacist-capitalism says that an alleged petty theft is worth the lives of Black mothers#RedelJonesand#YuvetteHenderson.

When we think about the enormity of what we facethe thousands of lives stolen by police violence, each hashtag, police budgets in the billions, tens of thousands of our folks living unhoused, poisoned water, people confined to cages, centuries of miseducation, and the oppression embedded into every crevice of every system, it is too overwhelming to fight against. We must hold the line nonetheless. More than fighting against these structures that pummel us constantly, though, we must build new systems. We must dare to set our own agenda. Rather than merely resisting white-supremacist-capitalism, we must embrace and build cooperative economics (ujamaa).

For the last seven years, Black Lives Matter has been challenging people to dream of a Black Xmas, to intentionally use our resources to: #BuildBlack (invest in Black-led, Black-serving organizations), #BuyBlack (spend exclusively with Black-owned businesses from Black Friday through New Year), and #BankBlack (move our money from white corporate banks to Black-owned ones). In 2020, #BlackXmas expanded to a nationwide campaign, with a website,blackxmas.org, that provides a listing of organizations to support and businesses to shop. #BlackXmas is about not simply struggling against the systems that enable Rittenhouse,McMichaels, Schwartzman, Walmart, racist policing, violence, and exploitation, but fighting on our terms. #BlackXmas challenges us to shake off the chains of consumerism and step fully into our own collective power, to build new traditions, and run an offense as well as a defense. #BlackXmas is about being self-determined and felling existing structures by building new, and more viable, beneficial onesin the names of our mightiest and most righteous warrior Ancestors, in the names of those stolen by police violence, in honor of our community, and as a commitment to the generations to come.

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#BlackXmas: Visioning Beyond the Weight of the Moment - Lasentinel