As a commercial entity, LCD is a part of the system. Even though we are minority & female owned and operated, our successes (and failures) are all based on a system that is deeply flawed and unjust.  We -- I -- am taking this time to reflect on my own failures as an ally and friend and businesswoman and to take the steps to remedy my failures. 

As such, I want to make clear why we are not donating a percentage of proceeds towards any Black Lives Matter organizations.  A percentage of proceeds is a well-intentioned mechanism that benefits all parties involved - the purchaser who receives both goods and personal satisfaction, the seller who recoups some money to cover the costs of buying the merchandise, and the charity / organization for obvious reasons. However, at this time, I have no desire to muddy the waters between commerce and social justice.  If you want to support the cause of defunding police, or police re-education, or help bail out peaceful protestors, or helping fund college education for disadvantaged youths -- DONATE DIRECTLY. This is not about supporting LCD right now, this is not about us making sales. Your donation should 100% go towards the organizations you care about at this time. This is the work we must all personally undertake to fight racial injustice. 

Thank you for caring enough to read this message, thank you for being the amazing human beings that you are, and thank you for your actions to help fight racial injustice.

DONATIONS

• Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles
• ACLU - Minnesota - a call for justice for George Floyd
• A list of National Bail Out Funds for Protestors
• Black Visions Collective, Minnesota
• Color of Change - the nation's largest organization against racial injustice

READING

I have tried my best to highlight Black-owned bookstores and the titles you can purchase from them.

• The Lit Bar, a neighborhood bookstore in the Bronx, NY that has put together a reading list called, Dear White People, where you can pick up: 
• White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo
• How to Be An Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
• Between The World And Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
• Semicolon Bookstore, a Black woman-owned bookshop and gallery in Chicago, IL whose Staff Picks include:
• The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander
• Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
• Mahogany Books, a Philadelphia-based bookstore specializing in books written for, by or about people of the African Diaspora
• The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
• How We Get Free, edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• Uncle Bobbie's, another Philly-based bookstore
• Assata, an autobiography by Assata Shakur with forward by Angela Davis
• Heavy: An American Memoir, by Kiese Laymon
• LA's very own Underground Museum has an incredible library and bookshop that is near and dear to my heart. Please support them in any way you can right now.
• When They Call You A Terrorist, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
• Let The Children March, by Monica Clark-Robinson
• Eso Won, Los Angeles - just added
• Also please consider purchasing from Ashay By the Bay - a children's bookstore in Vallejo, CA specializing in African-American and multicultural books for kids

Corinne Shutack has put together an amazing list on Medium called 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Injustice. Read it when you feel at a loss for what you can do to help.

CALL, WRITE, TEXT

• Justice for George Floyd - an automated system will guide you through calling the Minneapolis County Attorney to demand justice (in a polite but firm way)
• Sign the petition for George Floyd's arrestors to be held accountable for his death
• Sign the petition to demand that the policemen who killed Breonna Taylor be fired and held accountable
• Sign the petition to urge Congress to protect Black voters by increasing the Election Resilience grants to states as part of the HEROES Act.