image: Sacrée Frangine
It’s hard to relate to something which has never affected you personally, hard to wrap your head around and actually understand fully. But that’s what so many of us are trying to do right now. We want our blog to be an informative space to discuss what is happening in the world right now and so felt this needed to be spoken about here.
George Floyd was killed by the police after having a knee pressed to his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. It is clear that this wasn’t done because he was a threat, but instead because of the prejudice that those officers own. While all officers involved were fired, only one has been charged –3rd degree murder…
While you may just be one person, there is power in numbers. We’ve got to come together on this, spread the word, get educated, sign petitions, donate. All this work can not be for nothing. While the news cycle will find a way to move on, the world should not until this issue is addressed. The fact that Black Lives Matter should not be up for debate, it should be obvious.
Educate yourself:
https://www.instagram.com/officialmillennialblack/ -
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA53Q_WDl9O/ - this is a good one for our fellow brits. Images: @das.penman
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAu6rbhBTdE/ - Why saying all lives matter is problematic. Images: @blessthemessy
Info on how you can help:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA41eo8HgXh/ - how you can help from Europe
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA4LI_WHNqJ/ - a list of links to places you can donate
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAfa4F0AgqZ/ - how you can use your white privilege for good - Munroe Bergdorf has shared some really informative posts, including this artwork by @courtneyahndesign
Images @munroebergdorf instagram
Some petitions that need your name on them:
https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis
https://www.justiceforbigfloyd.com/
https://www.wecantbreathenational.org/
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd?utm_source=brand_us&utm_medium=media&use_react=false
(I used the zip code 90210 where needed because it was easy to remember!)
As well as this, people in the UK are free to contact their MP when, according to the parliament website, you want “To ask your MP to support a particular campaign that you feel strongly about”, and I think this is something many of us feel strongly about. If you’re not sure who your MP is you can find out here https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons
Please keep in mind that this is just a super short list of the resources out there to start you off!
As a business, we understand that it is our responsibility to use our platform for good – to promote equality and human rights. However, we also understand that we are not exempt from these issues. As a small business, we often shoot product "in-house" on ourselves, and as a white, female led brand, this is then the majority of our images. We want Rock On Ruby to be inclusive of all people no matter what race, age or gender and realise that our current social accounts and website do not reflect this as well as they could. We have had the privilege of working with a diverse range of bloggers and models in the past, and we want to celebrate & do more of this going forward.
Rock On Ruby is all about expressing yourself through what you wear, being proud of who you are and accepting of others. We want to ensure that going forward this shows throughout our brand, from our product, to our content, on our socials and in our imagery. We are ready to embrace changes and be the best version of ROR that we can be and hope to inspire change in others too! We love everyone in our ROR family and know that we can make the world a better place by working together. ❤️
This is our promise to you that we are ready to listen, learn and most importantly, make a change.
