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Letters For Black Lives
Letters for Black Lives
Published in
4 min readJul 11, 2016

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Letters for Black Lives is a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness in our families and communities.

We began as a group of Asian Americans and Canadians writing an intergenerational letter to voice our concerns and support for the Black community. We have since grown to include other immigrant groups and communities of color. Our goal is to listen, support, and amplify the message of Black Lives Matter within our communities.

We encourage people from all communities to adapt and build off of these resources.

Starter Letters (in English)

Translations

Writing the Letter

Producing an edition of Letters for Black Lives is a two-part process.

First, dozens of individuals co-create an initial Starter Letter template in English. Then, hundreds of translators, mostly working in teams, customize the template for their communities and then translate it.

To help align this collective effort, the initial Starter Letter template was written with the following Goals and Considerations in mind.

Goals

  1. The goal of the letter is to start a conversation with loved ones about the unique struggles that the Black community faces. We are not trying to prove we are “right” through debate (this letter is not intended to help you win an argument). We need to meet people where they are so they will be open to a perspective other than their own. After reading, people should understand they should be listening and reflecting.
  2. This is primarily a call for empathy and understanding. The Asian immigrant community as a whole doesn’t see police brutality against Black people as “their problem” and are sometimes even anti-Black themselves. That may be true for your community, too. This is a conversation starter to ask for a willingness to stop and listen rather than getting immediately judgmental/defensive when we broach these issues with them.
  3. Explain why we are in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and how we’re affected by these shootings even if we are not the direct target.

Considerations

  • Be brief. Closer to 500 words than 5000.
  • Be personal. Write a letter, not a term paper. Avoid academic terms.
  • Be open. The Letter should be openly available for anyone to use however they’d like.
  • Be adaptable. While it’s being written by members of the Asian American community focusing on the United States, it should be an effective template for other communities in other countries.
  • Guide, don’t lecture. For example, the letter moves gradually from talking about Black people closest to us, to talking about all Black people whether or not we are related. This narrative arc is intentional.
  • Focus. There are so many things we wanted to include but couldn’t. We’ve placed these resources in our Supplemental Talking Points.

Letters for Black Lives is a a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness in our families and communities. Learn more about the project and get involved.

For updates, follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

BlackLivesMatter
Racism
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Letters For Black Lives

 by the author.

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Letters For Black Lives
Letters for Black Lives
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Letters for Black Lives: An Open Letter Project on Anti-Blackness.

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