Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter added a link at the top of its website directing users to a Black Lives Matter website — operated by ActBlue Charities — calling for “a national defunding of police” and soliciting donations.
The Black Lives Matter page urges visitors to join a digital petition under the title “#BlackLivesMatter:”
Enough is enough.
Our pain, our cries, and our need to be seen and heard resonate throughout this entire country.
We demand acknowledgment and accountability for the devaluation and dehumanization of Black life at the hands of the police.
We call for radical, sustainable solutions that affirm the prosperity of Black lives.
George Floyd’s violent death was a breaking point — an all too familiar reminder that, for Black people, law enforcement doesn’t protect or save our lives. They often threaten and take them.
Right now, Minneapolis and cities across our country are on fire, and our people are hurting — the violence against Black bodies felt in the ongoing mass disobedience, all while we grapple with a pandemic that is disproportionately affecting, infecting, and killing us.
We call for an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and our lives to be taken.
We call for a national defunding of police. We demand investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive. If you’re with us, add your name to the petition right now and help us spread the word.
Currently, we are fighting two deadly viruses: COVID-19 is threatening our health. White Supremacy is threatening our existence. And both are killing us every single day.
We demand real transformation NOW. Transformation that will hold law enforcement accountable for the violence they inflict, transformation of this racist system that breeds corruption, and transformation that ensures our people are not left behind.
It’s time for our cities and states to #DefundThePolice and #InvestInCommunities. Sign the petition right now, and share it with friends and family.
Kickstarter declares the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Rayshard Brooks, and Yassin Mohamed as “murders” resulting from “systemic racism” on a page of its own:
The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Rayshard Brooks, Yassin Mohamed, and too many other Black Americans at the hands of police are the latest horrors in a long history of systemic racism and pervasive injustice directed against Black people everywhere. We must come together to support the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing efforts nationwide to end police violence and pursue racial justice.
In its charter, Kickstarter describes itself as committed to building a “diverse,” “inclusive,” and “equitable” company.
Kickstarter will report on team and leadership demographics, executive and CEO pay ratios, and programs and strategies employed to build a diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization.
Half of Kickstarter’s 5% pledge will be devoted to organizations addressing systemic inequality. Kickstarter will primarily focus such contributions on 501(c)(3) organizations fighting to end prejudices against and increase opportunities for people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals.
Kickstarter did not respond to a request for comment regarding its support for “defunding of police.”
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