Black Lives Matter – the USA’s call for action has become a global movement, a message of solidarity that’s swept the world! The murder of George Floyd is the tip of the iceberg of rampant systematic racism across the USA, and the world. World Anvil may be just a tiny, UK company, but racism is a global issue, and it’s time to say “what can we do?” Well, as a global community – plenty!

WHAT CAN WE DO AS A COMMUNITY?

As a worldbuilder, I talk almost exclusively about how you can change your fictional worlds, but it’s long-past time to make change in OUR world. It’s time we do something about it as a global community of people who want to live together, equally and compassionately.

As a community, we can educate ourselves, support black members of our community, and do everything in our power to bring an end to this inequality. This is a time for black voices to be heard, and for the rest of us to shout out their message.

You can talk, message, email, and petition the politicians who represent you: change cannot happen if governmental and local authority policies are not changed.

If there are peaceful protests in your area, you can join in and support them (take care to protect yourself with masks, etc, and don’t go if you are in an at-risk category for Coronavirus!) Research the protest carefully (more advice here) before you attend.

Contribute to agencies and charities in your country that are trying to bring about change. Charities can use these funds to promote the cause and make fundamental, long-lasting changes to the system.

WHAT IS WORLD ANVIL DOING?

World Anvil – that is me and Dimitris – fully support the Black Lives Matter movement. We may be a tiny company, but all support matters, and we want to help, both financially, and by lifting up black creatives so that THEIR voices can be heard!

We are committing to match any donation to #UKBLM for the month of June up to our monthly profits. Just email us a screenshot of your receipt to hello@worldanvil.com and we will match it at the end of the month as a single lump-sum donation.

UKBLM – Black Lives Matter UK – is a coalition of activists from across the UK who believe deeply that Black Lives Matter, and are gathering money to effect fundamental changes in UK law, and through education. Learn more about them on their Twitter and Facebook and donate to their GoFundMe campaign here!

CALL TO ACTION: BLACK CREATIVES REPRESENT!

We want to lift up YOUR voices to be heard. Submit the URL of your world as a comment on this blog post! We’ll be creating a featured collection of all these worlds and shouting them out across all our platforms, to get your message out to the world.

We’re also looking to publish guest blogposts about worldbuilding from your perspective. Please let us know if you’re interested in submitting a blog post to be published, again at hello@worldanvil.com!

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P.S. Some voices in our community have asked why this statement hasn’t been released sooner. Both Dimitris and I have been really sick (thanks to my auto-immune disease, a minor infection turned into an intense fever I’ve been riding out all week (and still am!, so apologies for weird typos!), and Dimitris has been pretty much bedridden with back problems.)

P.S 2 World Anvil is not affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Organization. We are pledging to help BLMUK which is a completely different organization operating in the UK and which is focused on anti-racism education, peaceful protesting, and protection of protestors