Things We Saw Today: Some Ways You Can Help After Charlottesville

After reading about the horror in Charlottesville, Virginia, many people want to know how they can help the affected residents, and the larger movement against white supremacy. Below are just a few suggestions.

• Unity Cville has put together a GoFundMe to help support the victims of the violence. The money raised will be turned over to the city of Charlottesville.
• Deandre Harris was brutally beaten by white supremacists, and he’s set up a GoFundMe to help with his resulting medical expenses.
• Sara Benincasa shared a list of nonprofits in Charlottesville who could use your money or your time. Many of them are local chapters of national organizations, so if you can’t volunteer directly in Charlottesville, you can instead volunteer with your own local organization. White supremacy is a nationwide problem.
• Artist Jenn St-Onge is selling this awesome Bombshells-style Batwoman print to raise money for the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP.
  

  I did an exclusive #Batwoman print to help raise donation money for Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP! https://t.co/v1rsOySZHz pic.twitter.com/AN4VVuaERr

  — Jenn St-Onge (@princess_jem4) August 13, 2017

• As Huffington Post Canada suggests, you can also help by calling out hate. Report hate when you see it, to organizations like ProPublica or the Southern Poverty Law Center who are actively tracking bigoted violence and harassment. And, perhaps more pressingly, have the difficult, necessary discussions with your relatives when they say something offensive.
• Call your representatives to demand that they condemn the white supremacist violence and terrorism – and, more importantly, demand that they pressure Trump to remove the white supremacists from his cabinet.
• Did you learn something from a marginalized person on Twitter or Facebook today? If they’ve got a PayPal or Patreon, send them some compensation for their labor.
• Don’t have the spoons today to volunteer or donate? Read/watch and promote art by marginalized people. Give a marginalized creator the royalty money, clicks, Netflix views, or downloads that could help get their show renewed, bring more attention to their voice, and put more money in their wallets.

The above list is clearly not comprehensive, but I hope it gave anyone who’s feeling helpless a starting point or action item. And now onto the rest of today’s list…

• The Middle Eastern sci-fi show Medinah, based in a future Qatar that’s been deeply affected by climate change, sounds super intriguing based on this interview with SYFY Wire. I wish we had a trailer so I could see more of what it’s about, but it’s a project to keep an eye on.
• Did you recently buy some eclipse glasses on Amazon? The company has had to crack down on “counterfeit or unsafe” versions of these products, so make sure you got the right ones. Otherwise, using them could seriously damage your vision. (via Gizmodo)
• Behold this amazing cat maze (via Nerdist)

(Featured image via Shutterstock)

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