Signal Boost: This Is Your Call To Action

Contributing to donation links is a way to alleviate desperate need

How early did you learn to share? Sharing is a fundamental practice of our collective, global culture. Yet somewhere along the line we appear to have lost sight of our most integral means of showing compassion for each other. The capitalist system we currently suffer under is stamping out the values that we have been taught. As we grow under these profit-focused regimes, we fail to remember what ties us together.

In a functioning civilization, we make decisions that are beneficial for the self and for the collective. A collapse of this compassionate system begins when we focus exclusively on the self. 

Additionally destructive is the allure of the dollar. Greed in conjunction with individualism creates a deep deficiency in our ability and desire to care for one another. As a result, we are  resistant to level the financial playing field.

The final affront is institutionalized racism at the hand of the American government.  

Individualism, greed and institutionalized racism are comorbidities in the pandemic of poverty that America faces. 

Governmental cheating, swindling and general grave mistreatment of racially marginalized citizens has gone almost unquestioned for decades. It is insidious, and it is detrimental. We need a restructuring of our society in order to combat the amount of poverty present in America, especially that which is stratified by race. It is an ignominious fact that the most powerful country in the world is leaving 27.4% of its Black citizens in poverty, according to The State of Working America. 

As humans, we are a community, and we are responsible for those who are part of our community. Within this group—this loosely-knit nebula of living people—those who are hurting need to be able to rely upon their fellow members for support. Whether it be financial or social, every person deserves a support system. 

Many people are not receiving that aid from the government—it is clear that other members of the society need to pick up that slack and help those in need directly. 

Crowdfunding is a natural innovation when financial needs are not being met. Redistributing wealth to individuals who are in need is one of the best ways to act during a racial reckoning that coincides with a global pandemic. Governmental shortcomings are becoming so apparent that there is nowhere else to turn in desperate need. Crowdfunding on social media provides an outlet and a platform for people to cry for help.

Guinevere Yoseyva, multimedia artist and advocate for social change, enlightened me as to the benefits of posting crowdfunding links. 

“Why I think people are more inclined to share with others, now much more than ever, is that we’ve all seen firsthand how the government is screwing us over,” Yoseyva said. “And because of this, we want to see those who need help get the necessities they need to survive. That’s what this all is, really—survival.” 

As a white person, I know that it is my duty to look introspectively, holding myself and others—including the U.S. Government—accountable for our actions.

Contributing to individual donation links has the potential to change someone’s life the instant a button is touched, while legislative change is a long, arduous process. Those in dire need cannot wait for the people in power to decide that their life matters. That is why reposting donation links matters: even if you don’t have the means to donate, perhaps the post can reach someone who does. 

These links and stories we see represent real lives that are in danger, and real human beings in desperate need. It is difficult to ask for help, even when confronted with grim circumstances. It is an appeal to the humanity of us all to donate to these funds: resources must be shared with those in need.

If you haven’t done so yourself, most of us know someone who posted a black square on Instagram, claiming that this was their “resistance,” their activism, their aid. Maybe you can’t attend a protest out of fear of contracting coronavirus or becoming a victim of police violence. We are all looking for something to do to help in a pandemic of poverty that affects people of color at drastically higher rates.  

Redistribute your wealth. Open your wallet. This is the call to action you have been waiting for.