Racial Equity Resources

The ACLU NorCal development team recognizes and supports the interdependence of our communities by aligning fundraising practices with our goals for racial, economic, and social justice. We continue to fundraise for the ACLU, and we also use our opportunities and resources to build stronger movements—and we invite you to join us. We welcome you to learn alongside us about how inequity manifests—currently as well as historically—and about steps we each can take to realize our country’s founding promises of freedom and justice for all:

Build your understanding for this work: Taking informed action requires an understanding of structural racism, its roots, and the ways it's perpetuated today.
Give to BIPOC-led organizations: Support organizations that are led by and focused on those most directly impacted by structural racism, and therefore uniquely qualified to address it. The following are among ACLU NorCal’s key partner organizations:
In the words of the late Rep. John Lewis, make “good trouble”: Whether it’s calling your legislators to support transformative policies, phone banking to help turn out the vote, joining your local ACLU chapter, or getting involved with community-based organizations, there are many ways to put your learnings, power, and privilege into action.

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble." - Rep. John Lewis, a tweet from June 2018

"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." Aboriginal Rights Group in Queensland, Australia

"The poison of oppression doesn’t just live in systems; it lives within each of us and in the way we interact with one another and inside our spheres of influence, be it our workplace, school, family, or neighborhood. We must recognize our complicity in harmful systems as much as we see ourselves as part of the solution. Only from this place of honesty can we truly commit to living our lives in alignment with our proclaimed values." Michelle MiJung Kim, The Wake Up

Words of Inspiration

Leaders and Movements that Influence ACLU NorCal’s Approach to Resource Mobilization

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