A Message From Wellspring
Wellspring Family Services would like to clearly and publicly state our concern, compassion, and solidarity for and with the Black community, our absolute repudiation of racism and police brutality, and our commitment to dismantle racism in the course of our work.
We are grieving. We are angry. We are hurt. We want to acknowledge that systemic racism is real, pervasive, and is what led to the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and a great many before them.
The mission of Wellspring is to end the cycle of family homelessness in our community:
End the cycle
The entrenched and traumatic cycle of homelessness is rooted in poverty, isolation and fear. The ingredients and conditions that give birth to homelessness are disproportionate in their impact on people of color and, specifically, Black and Brown people. There is no possible way to end the cycle of homelessness without addressing systemic racism.
Of family homelessness
Of the many unacceptable acts of violence, we believe that displacement from a safe and healthy home is itself an act of violence. For children, youth, and families, we speak out, and loudly. They deserve our very best, and we are committed to helping them experience stability and respect in their homes, families, and communities.
In our community
We are fortunate to be part of a community comprised of many and varied cultures and people. Of these, some are more highly impacted by the unacceptable conditions of homelessness. Black and Brown people are beloved and beautiful. But as this moment in history has once again illustrated, Black and Brown people face barriers of exclusion, hardship, and hate at alarming levels. We owe it to these beloved and beautiful members of our community to be so much better than this!
Wellspring Family Services knows that the road ahead is long and hard. But we commit ourselves to the love, justice, hope, and healing required to usher in a new day. What is happening in the world around us, and the worlds within us, is beyond description. The trauma of this season – and its relationship to inter-generational trauma for Black people, spanning hundreds of years – is painfully and frightfully real.
Please join us in working to dismantle systemic racism, to support our Black and Brown community members and peers by uplifting their voices, and to end the cycle of family homelessness.
Wellspring Family Services
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Recommended Resources for Driving Change
Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
End White Silence Week of Action Toolkit
New Era of Public Safety: An Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe, and Effective Community Policing
Via Maya Batres: Anti-racism resource for white people
Via Cassandra James: 28 essential books about race and racism
An Antiracist Reading List by Ibram X. Kendi
Via Stephanie Dashiell: a helpful resource on white allyship in the workplace: https://www.powershift.org/
Via Cheryl Thibodeau: 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack
Racial Justice Research document from The Great Unlearn by Rachel Cargle https://www.patreon.com/posts/36868690
5 Racist Anti-Racist Responses “Good” White Women Give to Viral Posts by Katie Anthony
5 Ways White People Can Take Action in Response to White and State-Sanctioned Violence by SURJ on Medium
Uncivil podcast: A history podcast from Gimlet Media, where we go back to the time our divisions turned into a war, and bring you stories left out of the official history.
Systemic Inequality in America
6 Ways to Activate Beyond Social Media (Intagram)
White Lies by NPR
The 1619 Project by the New York Times
The Witness Podcast Network - Pass the Mic
Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Case for Reparations
Why Seeing Yourself Represented on Screen Is So Important (Kimberley Lawson)
Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism
Audre Lorde’s The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism
Rachel Elizabeth Cargle’s When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels
Walking While Black (Garnette Cadogan)
Racial Bias Test - this will help you understand what your biases are for yourself
Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives
Exhaustive Black Lives Matter List ***A LOT OF RESOURCES***
#blacklivesmatter - includes regularly updated actions against specific instances of police brutality
#Blacklivesmatter - Includes contacts and direct actions
Resources to help Black people/Communities
26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets
Natl Resource List #GeorgeFloyd
Resources for NBPOC/South Asians
Desi-Americans know your history: A set of images with information on how South Asians are benefitting from the Civil Rights Movement put together by southasians4blacklives
South Asian Guide to Speaking to your Family about Anti-Blackness
An Informational Letter to the South Asian Community
Organizations
The following organizations continuously work to fight systemic racism and oppression in the United States; they regularly offer several resources and a variety of ways to show support. If interested in learning more about their trainings and work, here’s a list we’ve come up with that is by no means comprehensive nor endorsed by TNC:
- Showing up for Racial Justice
- Black Lives Matter
- ACLU
- Human Rights Watch
- Minnesota Freedom Fund
- Movement for Black Lives
- Black Visions Collective (MN)
- Campaign Zero
- Know Your Rights Camp
- Color of Change