As we all know, Badass Gal is for and comprised of an incredible creative community, featuring inspiring and diverse backgrounds, religions, and not least, skin tones. The BAME talent highlighted on Badass Gal are visionaries, chairwomen and CEOs, playwrights and BAFTA winners, international and homegrown illustrators, graphic designers, art directors and copywriters, they are students and educators, television personalities and DJs, they are authors and community theatre advocates, they are poets and photographers, social media managers and creative directors, they are board members and interns, they are our community — and they are undoubtedly badass.
Which is why, in an effort to amplify the voices of POC in our community and to continue to show support to our badass friends and family, colleagues and neighbours, we will be sharing more actionable and positive steps forward. But first, to our community, we are here and will fight for you. We are listening, learning and relearning, sharing, showing up, and donating to the organisations who are on the front lines as it were, actively providing resources to the communities who need it most, as well as those demonstrating for equality and justice on the streets. #blacklivesmatter
We have sought advice from the experts and organisations leading the cause and have compiled resources that have helped us to take a further look inward at ourselves and how we can do more. It is incredibly critical that we are informed as to what is going on and how to actively engage in anti-racist work.
“It is not enough to not be non-racist, you must be anti-racist.” — Angela Davis
Books to read, and then reread.
But as we said, it’s not enough to just read and listen, we as a community need to make actionable change. We need to stand up in solidarity, protest the horrific injustices and fund the leaders and teams who are face to face with these realities.
Organisations to contribute to in support👇
US-Based
UK-Based
Of course, these are just a few and we encourage you to include others not mentioned in the comments to continue amplifying the voices that truly need to be heard.
This post is later than intended, not because we were unsure of our stance or feelings on what is happening right now, but because we have taken time to listen and process before we speak.
Equality is something we are very passionate about, as of course, it is the foundation of Badass Gal, highlighting those underrepresented or in marginalised communities, and working to provide them with a platform to be heard and seen, as well as provide opportunities following recognition.
However, equality feels very distant, there is so much to be said, understood and actioned before our work here is no longer needed.
We are also continually learning and honestly feel as though Badass Gal has not recognised nearly as many WOC as we should have, and this will change.
As those coming from places of privilege, it is up to us to take responsibility to listen, learn, and make whatever positive impact we can to help all of us on the road to equality. So we will continue to encourage ourselves and others to learn what equality and justice really mean by furthering our understanding of racism, individual and institutionalised, in an effort to put an end to systemic injustices.
The last time we checked in, during the seemingly early days of lockdown, it was in honour of International Women’s Day and Badass Gal’s birthday, in which we also shared the start of the Badass Gal blog. If you are subscribed to the mailing list, you will have also received our first newsletter, prompting our Badass Gal community to share their work or thoughts. We are sharing this again to our BAME community and those acting in allyship, to submit creative work whether campaigns, photography, projects or articles, collages or gifs, that amplifies the voices we really want and *need* to hear from.
With some help, we have also collated just a handful of the incredible UK-based WOC-led organisations, brands, social initiatives, magazines, etc. for you to follow and get involved with, and please in the comments be sure to include other relevant pages and people!
