How The Scene Is Helping Black Lives Matter - And How You Can Help Too

News
Written By Schae Beaudoin
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The Black Lives Matter movement has made their voices heard loudly over the past week. Protests have sprung up across the country to call for the arrest of police officers involved in George Floyd’s death. But they aren’t just protesting George Floyd’s death, they’re protesting widespread police brutality against the Black community and white supremacy’s mark on America. 

Punk and metal have always served as music for rebellion, and many in the scene are standing up to say no more violence against the Black community and supporting the movement in their own ways. We are spotlighting just some of the bands contributing to the BLM cause. Fortunately, there are too many artists supporting Black Lives Matter for just one article, so if we missed anyone feel free to shout them out in our comments. We’ll provide links to organizations supporting racial justice and antiracism throughout the article and there are additional resources at the bottom of this blog.

UPDATED 6/7/2020

The Story So Far and Elder Brother’s raffle

Pure Noise labelmates The Story So Far and Elder Brother are raffling off test presses of their full-length records, with proceeds split between Black Lives Matter, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Reclaim the Block and People’s Breakfast Oakland. The bands also created t-shirts with a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote on the back, with all proceeds benefitting the above organizations as well.

The first day’s orders alone reached $13,000, but preorders are available until June 12th.

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Donate to Reclaim the Block

Donate to People’s Breakfast Oakland

Knocked Loose and Dying Wish’s “Enemies in Blue” shirt

Knocked Loose and Dying Wish teamed up to release a shirt depicting the “enemies in blue.” Proceeds from the shirt will be split 50/50 between the two band’s hometown bail funds: the Portland Freedom Fund and the Louisville Community Bail Fund.

Donate to the Portland Freedom Fund

Donate to the Louisville Community Bail Fund

Will Putney’s We Can Do Better livestream

Fit For An Autopsy’s Will Putney will host an all-star lineup for a June 14th livestream called “We Can Do Better: Words From the Underground.” The livestream will include giveaways and Q&A’s with artists including Ice-T, Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die, Bryan Garris of Knocked Loose and several others. Fans have the opportunity to win memorabilia and merch during the livestream by donating a minimum of $10 to the ACLU.

You can view the livestream and donate here.

Crazy Eighty Eight’s shirt

Crazy Eighty Eight released their own shirt to support the Black Lives Matter movement. The shirt displays the names of victims of police brutality, with all profits going to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Bail Fund Network and Black Girls CODE.

Donate to the National Bail Fund Network

Donate to Black Girls CODE

Silent Planet’s “Make Every Breath a Protest” shirt

Silent Planet took lyrics from their song “No Place To Breathe,” a song in response to police brutality, and is selling a shirt to benefit bail funds and Black Lives Matter. The shirt’s profits will go to The Bail Project and Black Lives Matter LA.

Donate to The Bail Project

Donate to Black Lives Matter LA (or find your local Black Lives Matter chapter here)

Stray From The Path raises $20,000

Stray From The Path was able to make a huge contribution to Minnesota’s Reclaim the Block. After raising over $16,000 through a shirt sale, the band and their record label UNFD rounded up to donate a total of $20,000 to the Minneapolis organization.

SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s “These Pigs Must Be Undone” shirt

SeeYouSpaceCowboy debuted a totally badass shirt, with proceeds benefitting the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund and Black Lives Matter LA.

The Brooklyn Community Bail Fund said their need for demonstration bail has been met at this time, but they are still accepting donations.

Blood Youth’s “Stand Up Against Racism” shirt

Blood Youth is yet another band fundraising for the Black Lives Matter movement. Proceeds from the shirt will go to Reclaim the Block and Black Lives Matter.

Drug Church’s “The Cops Aren’t Your Friends” shirt

Drug Church has pledged to donate all proceeds from their new “The Cops Aren’t Your Friends” shirt to the Black Visions Collective. The band sold over 500 shirts in just two days.

Donate to Black Visions Collective

Enter Shikari’s “Gandhi Mate, Gandhi” shirt

Enter Shikari noticed their lyrics from “Gandhi Mate, Gandhi” resonating with people when protests began. So they took those lyrics and put them on a shirt, with proceeds going to the Southern Poverty Law Center and Black Visions Collective. The shirt is now sold-out, with the band estimating they raised £20,000. 

Donate to Southern Poverty Law Center

Halsey’s donations and protesting with Yungblud

Halsey has made appearances at protests before, but she quietly helped treat protestors’ wounds with Yungblud in Los Angeles over the weekend.

Halsey also donated a total of $100,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Reclaim the Block and Black Visions Collective and encouraged her fans to do the same in a Twitter thread.

Yungblud shared a message of solidarity with Black Lives Matter as well.

Donate to NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Donate to Reclaim the Block

Beartooth raises $18,000 for Black Lives Matter

Beartooth is showing support for the BLM movement with a new shirt displaying the names of victims of police brutality. The band announced they were closing the shirt sale on June 7th after raising over $18,000, all of which will go to Black Lives Matter.

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Grayscale’s Mayflower shirts for George Floyd’s family

Grayscale, known for their beautiful merch, debuted a t-shirt with all proceeds going to George Floyd’s family. The shirts sold out and the band raised $16,010. The band also pushed fans to sign the Justice for George Floyd petition and announced a donation to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund received a massive outpouring of support and is pausing donations for now. They recommend those who wish to donate visit this list.

Fever 333’s livestream (and entire career)

Equality and justice are the ethos at the heart of Fever 333. Police brutality and abuse of power are often topics the band focuses on, so racial justice is kinda their thing. The band organized a livestream demonstration with all proceeds going to the Minnesota Freedom Fund and Black Lives Matter.

They also released a powerful statement condemning the police responsible for Floyd’s murder.

Frontman Jason Aalon Butler recently gave a lengthy statement about the current protests and Black Lives Matter as well.

Movements’ merch drop 

Movements has been vocally supportive of the BLM movement, encouraging fans to sign petitions and donate to organizations like the Minnesota Freedom Fund. They also announced proceeds from their recent merch drop will go to Reclaim the Block.

Paramore’s donation

Paramore announced a donation of $25,000 to organizations including Black Lives Matter Nashville, Campaign Zero and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Donate to Black Lives Matter Nashville (or find your local Black Lives Matter chapter here)

Donate to Campaign Zero

Donate to American Civil Liberties Union

Stick To Your Guns’ focus on local bail funds

Stick to Your Guns posted a lengthy Tweet thread of bail funds and community organizations to donate to across the country. From California to North Carolina, the band amplified more local organizations to get fans involved in their own communities. They also shared several reading materials concerning police brutality, capitalism and colonialism.

The band also announced 100% of merch sales from June 5th through June 7th would go to Act Blue, allowing the band to split donations between several bail funds and racial justice organizations.

T-shirt Links 

The Story So Far & Elder Brother Black Lives Matter shirts and test press raffle benefitting Black Lives Matter, Reclaim the Block, NAACP Legal Defense Fund and People’s Breakfast Oakland. Black Lives Matter is an organization dedicated to eradicating white supremacy and to stop violence against Black communities. Reclaim the Block is a Minneapolis organization supporting the relocation of funds from the Minneapolis Police Department to other areas of the city’s budget. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is committed to defending civil rights protections and fighting for racial justice. People’s Breakfast Oakland is a Black socialist grassroots organization in Oakland that serves the homeless community.

Knocked Loose & Dying Wish “Enemies in Blue” shirt benefitting the Portland Freedom Fund and the Louisville Community Bail Fund. The Portland Freedom Fund is a Portland-based organization seeking to end the money bail system. The Louisville Community Bail Fund pays bail for activists as well as providing post-release services to those released from jail.

Crazy Eighty Eight shirt benefitting the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Bail Fund Network and Black Girls CODE. The National Bail Fund Network is made up of 60 community bail funds across the country. Black Girls CODE provides programming and computer design classes to girls of color. 

Silent Planet “Make Every Breath a Protest” shirt benefitting Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and The Bail Project. The Bail Project pays bails for those who cannot afford it.

SeeYouSpaceCowboy “These Pigs Must Be Undone” shirt benefitting the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund and Black Lives Matter Los Angeles. The Brooklyn Community Bail Fund is committed to eradicating the racism in our criminal legal and immigration systems.

No Sleep Records shirt benefitting Black Visions Collective, Reclaim the Block, The Bail Project, and Facing History. Facing History uses history lessons to start conversations on bigotry and hate.

It has been incredible to see the overwhelmingly positive response from bands and other organizations within the scene stand up for what they think is right and support the Black Lives Matter movement. Bands and labels are taking it upon themselves to promote change and influence their fan bases for the better. 

Additional Resources: 

POC ALT Playlist - Created by @scene_facts/Twitter and @YasmineSumman/Twitter

The Very Black History of Punk Music

George Floyd Memorial Fund

Justice for Breonna Taylor 

Minnesota Freedom Fund

Grassroots Law

BLM’s Ways to Help

Black Visions Collective

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Reclaim the Block

The Bail Project

Facing History

Schae Beaudoin
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