“How can I help?” The question can be almost impossible to answer when talking about issues like racism. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless to fight discrimination when it’s happening in so many ways throughout our society. Fortunately, activists Marissa Johnson and Leslie Mac created a new service called Safety Pin Box to help white people learn how they can take concrete acts to fight systemic inequality in our society.
The co-founders were inspired by the conversation around the racial solidarity campaign to wear a safety pin to show you’re an anti-racist ally. The idea unsurprisingly became controversial; many critics said that wearing a small pin is not enough. That’s where Safety Pin Box comes in: it gives some answers to the question “How can I do my part to end racism?” to its members. It’s set up like the activist version of a monthly subscription service. Instead of receiving new nail polish, wine, or video games every month, Safety Pin Box users gets monthly packages chock full of ways to end racism.
...It’ll probably make more sense after you watch their new introductory video below:
Even the subscription model was a deliberate decision made to reflect Safety Pin Box’s values. As Mac explains in an interview with The Establishment interview:
I’m a big proponent of transformation being an equation, with commitment and consistency on the other side. So the idea behind a subscription box and a monthly fee is really about consistency in allyship. Too often allyship means “I’m here when something pops off.” Or, “I’m here when something really big happens, and then I’m gone.” Part of the idea was: Give people something they can do, and put it in a model that makes them show up over and over again. We are integrating their lives with allyship. It’s not separate from them, it’s something they do regularly.
Be sure to check out their website to learn more about Safety Pin Box and get their sample task to fight racism.