An Appeal, in Other People's Words

I'm not interested in anybody's guilt. Guilt is a luxury that we can no longer afford. I know you didn't do it, and I didn't do it either, but I am responsible for it because I am a man and a citizen of this country and you are responsible for it, too, for the very same reason: As long as my children face the future that they face, and come to the ruin that they come to, your children are very greatly in danger, too. They are endangered above all by the moral apathy which pretends it isn't happening. This does something terrible to us. Anyone who is trying to be conscious must begin to be conscious of that apathy and must begin to dismiss the vocabulary which we've used so long to cover it up, to lie about the way things are.... If we could do this, we could save this country, we could save the world.

—James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son,” in The Price of the Ticket (NY: St. Martin’s, 1985) pp. 400-401.

James Baldwin was writing about white Americans’ apathy toward the death of a black boy. I think his words apply broadly. The following is adapted from a list put together by the tremendous work of one of my colleagues, who gave me permission to share it. I encourage you to share it also, if you have the heart to, without attribution (since these aren’t my words). Note that you should copy and paste into a plain text editor first, like Notepad, to avoid the intermediary link-mangling that both Substack and Facebook indulge in.

Apologies for this interruption to the usual. More soon.

Crowdfunding

• gofundme.com/f/emergency-funds-for-afghan-artists

• gofundme.com/f/IDPrelief

• gofundme.com/f/afghanistanrelief2021

On-the-ground NGOS

• Bamyan Foundation (bamyanfoundation.org)

• Women for Afghan Women (womenforafghanwomen.org)

• Visions4Children (visions4children.org/en/project/afghanistan2021)

• Miles4Migrants, taking airline miles (miles4migrants.org)

• Refugee Trauma Initiative (refugeetrauma.org)

• Enabled Children Initiative (enabledchildren.org)

Larger International Orgs

• International Rescue Committee (rescue.org)

• Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org)

• UNHCR (unhcr.org)

• Committee to Protect Journalists (cpj.org)

Volunteer

Your nearest International Rescue Committee office, HIAS, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (especially Seattle/Tacoma, D.C./Maryland/Virginia, and Houston and Fort Worth folks)

Action/Other

Shortlinks are to Google Docs.

• WAW list of political actions and volunteer opportunities: bit.ly/3xZVXb6

• Afghan American Foundation list of organizations to donate to: bit.ly/3girkaD

• Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security actions: giwps.georgetown.edu/how-to-save-the-lives-of-afghan-women