Letters For Black Lives-Spoken Word For a World of Change

Letters For Black Lives (LFBL) started with the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016.  Using Google docs, Twitter, and Slack, a small group of mainly Asian collaborators created a crowdsourced open platform to write the first letter, a letter aimed at opening dialog within families. The letter has now been translated into over twenty languages with numerous recordings and videos.

The letter starts:  "Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie, Grandfather, Grandmother, Family:  We need to talk."  I think most of us can relate to the silent pause that often follows that statement.  It's the prelude to a difficult conversation, but one that, now more than ever, needs to be had about racial injustice in our society.

With the recent killing of George Floyd and the resulting mass protests his murder ignited across the globe, LFBL is once again active, and has revised the letter to reflect the atmosphere of our current crisis.  Here at ccMixter, we are proud to have the recent translations included in the Break The Silence Remix event.

"Because LFBL releases their works under CC0 licenses, we are able to easily collaborate with them." says Kara Square, "This is a great example of why Creative Commons was created, to allow people to share, express, and move culture forward."

These letters are powerful.  We are grateful to have the spoken word version available for remixing in our community projects, and we encourage any and all to participate, to translate and to speak up in this time of new hope for a world where Black Lives Matter.  We encourage you to have the conversation, break the silence and end the violence.

Relevant Links:
Letters For Black Lives Website
Interview with Creative Commons
Break The Silence Remix Event