It’s easy to feel powerless living through the current state of affairs. Our leaders are trying to quiet the voices of those who want justice for yet another black man murdered by threatening more police violence. Continued bluster and threats from our president have only pushed things closer to the brink. Everything I feared about Trump being elected has come to fruition, and in some ways even worse. While he isn’t responsible for all of what ails us right now, his promise of to deliver a “law and order” presidency was obviously a lie. And he’s making things worse nearly every time he wades into an issue.

That said, there is work to be done and we can get involved today even if you aren’t marching in the streets.

I think it’s important to make our voices heard, even if it’s via blogs or social media. We can also make our impact felt by donating to causes who think about these issues all day, every day. A few causes you can donate to:

• ACLU – The ACLU believes in civil liberties, freedom of speech and voting rights amongst other things. I’ve been happily donating to them monthly for years now.
• Color of Change – Fighting against injustice and racial discrimination.
• Campaign Zero – We can live in a world where the police don’t kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability.

You can also get involved in your community. I found this article helpful, as it highlights a lot of local and national causes you can get involved with as well as behavioral changes you can be mindful of:

• Put pressure on your local police departments to reduce deaths due to excessive force by adopting common-sense de-escalation procedures, using body cameras and opt out of buying used military hardware.
• Contact state and national officials to work on reducing minimum sentences. Attend town halls, talk about important this is to you.
• Talk to your children about how slavery, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow era are being taught in your local school.
• Seek out a diverse group of friends for your kids.
• Vote for competent leaders who are interested in governing the entire nation, not just the ~45% that voted for them.

I’ll never be able to fully understand what it must be like to live as a black person in America – but I know we all have a job to do to make it better. It will take time – 400 years of racism can’t be changed overnight – but I’m hopeful this generation is the one that turns the tide.