bail, police
Why bail funds help:
If you can't pay your bail, you can't work/take care of your kids, COVID rates in prisons are inhumane so a weekend in the clink means you might die; not making bail means you're more likely to plead guilty to misdemeanors, people who don't make bail are way less likely to resolve their cases with no criminal records: bail preys on the poor.
Here is a doc of funds by city:
With an emphasis on Black-led funds and organizations. Many funds (Minn freedom, BK bail) are overloaded, so it’s worth researching the specific funds in your city to find out which are best to help. This isn’t very hard—look them up on social for a few minutes.
Here is a doc of bail funds, advice, reading material:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CjZMORRVuv-I-qo4B0YfmOTqIOa3GUS207t5iuLZmyA/preview?pru=AAABcpDViYI*SZ3oY9zg0yravKJgSuplhw - the advice (protest protocol, digital footprints, filming cop interactions, not sharing photos, further reading) starts on page 11.
And there is also this thing which you can split up your donations (funds like BK Bail are overloaded and asking for money to be sent elsewhere):
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd
And if you’re donating and can protest, do that. Hopefully this is helpful, newsletters are a bit more static than social media posts.
Also one thing I haven’t seen shared (and I’ll keep it brief) is from here (male, white) there are no positive interactions with police officers, literally nothing gained or helpful on any level from talking to one, god forbid asking one for something, for anyone. I can’t think of a person who isn’t completely trepanated that might think, “gee whiz, I bet a police officer could solve this.” Many people who keep silent on police do that because they don’t want them around, they don’t even want to talk to one. And that is being white and male. It doesn’t seem radical to demand that the most useless, evil, coddled, outsider and unhelpful arm of government gets defunded and demilitarized. And to say there’s a gulf of experience and understanding between this perspective, and being Black, and having a gang, backed by force and law, put and keep a target on your back is an understatement of massive proportion. The “universal” white bourgeois experience of avoiding the police for comfort's sake is not that.