Charleston Action Oakland / White Silence is Violence

Come to Lake Merritt this Sunday and join us as we make noise to honor black lives lost to racist violence. Bring an instrument, drum, keys, pots, whatever to break the silence as white and non-black American allies.

Our silence in light of tragedies like Charleston implies we are complicit with this deeply embedded and deadly racism. The time is now to demonstrate that this is not true, you do not need to be black to be outraged at the execution of humans because of the color of their skin.

Please bring signs expressing your solidarity and encouraging other white and non-black community members to join the movement! Our help is needed on the front lines, please come through.

**Everyone is invited to this action, but the call is particularly for white people to speak up and out.

A note from the organizers:

This event is organized by two lifelong Oakland residents who are white and non-black allies. We are actively learning about ways to organize this community so as to give black organizers and families rest and shelter from putting their bodies on the line. We practice radical inclusivity, however in light of the constant and overwhelming violence especially in recent weeks, we are responding to a call from the black community to organize amongst ourselves.

We are putting Black lives at the center of this action by meeting their hard work and struggle with our own effort and dialogue. Many white and non-black people have kept silent about these issues, and this is a call to the community to come out from the shadows and speak up. We are not trying to dictate how this should look, and we invite any and all feedback from the greater community.

We believe that white supremacy is a white problem and this is a call for white and non-black allies to think about how to dismantle the system.
We’d like to end the walk around the lake with a solutions-based dialogue about the next steps we need to take as a community towards ending white supremacy.