Announcing UprisingSupport.org: A New Hub for Supporting Prisoners of the George Floyd Uprising

Announcing a new website that compiles info and resources about supporting defendants and prisoners from the George Floyd uprising of 2020. Check out Uprising Support, here.

Starting in May 2020 the U.S. was shaken by protests, uprisings, and riots following the police murder of George Floyd. Almost immediately the government moved in to repress those taking the streets against the police and racial violence. More than 350 people were arrested on federal charges while city and state level arrests topped 14,000 between May 28th and Nov 3rd. Some cities/regions already had established organizations and crews to help with both jail support and long-term prisoner support during and after the Uprising; in other places new groups formed as the need arose; yet other places still have little or no infrastructure to support the massive number of arrestees.

"This website is intended to be a clearinghouse of information about supporting people who are awaiting trial or currently serving prison sentences from the 2020 Uprisings." Please share far and wide! https://t.co/Rdvd7q7nBb pic.twitter.com/8pxFGUuRJD

— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) October 30, 2021

We are still working on building it out, and have intermediate goals of organizing/sorting the names, adding pictures of defendants/prisoners, and creating a comprehensive FAQ. To aid in this (since this is being run by just a few volunteers) we are asking people to email us at uprisingsupportsite(at)protonmail(dot)com with any additions, corrections, or updates including:

• Names and addresses and any website or social media pages of uprising defendants and prisoners we have not yet listed who have expressed a desire and have directly consented to public support during their case and/or imprisonment;
• Updated addresses of anyone we have not listed;
• Information or updates about specific mail restrictions for anyone we have already listed;
• Preferred name (if different from the government name) and pronouns, a short bio and case summary, a photo and birthday (day and month) for anyone we already have listed (we need all this information for those we have not listed as well);
• Links to support websites or social media pages, fundraisers, booklists or petitions for anyone we have already listed;
• Contact information for other groups doing support work for uprising prisoners and defendants;
• Anything else you think is important that we don’t have!

This site is run by a few people who have both interest in and experience with running support campaigns and doing anti-repression education and organizing. We are not ourselves an organization and we rely primarily on the work and support of those on the ground in each of these places who already have relationships with Uprising defendants and prisoners. We have done our best to communicate with defendants and inform them that since ours is a struggle for total collective liberation that we will not list people who stand for sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia or other forms of domination. We also will not list or support people who cooperate with the government against others to better their own circumstances.

Showing support and care for those bearing the weight of state repression in the wake of the 2020 Uprising is an integral part of building our communities of resistance. We do this to keep the flame of rebellion lit, especially for those who have spent the last 1.5 years in a cage, and to show that our solidarity for each other is stronger than any prison.

photo: James Eades via Unsplash