U.S : DANGEROUS IMAGES.

This week as an organization we're taking a deep look at our budgets. We still have to raise $10,056 to hit the $25,000 goal to make the Hollywood Hub possible. We need to be in Hollywood because that's where the decisions are made about how Black people are portrayed on television.

Will you chip in $15 to make sure we're able to shape a more dynamic representation of Black people on TV?

Thanks,

Sonia

Dear friend, 

I’m the Finance Director here at ColorOfChange – Sonia.

You don’t hear from me that often because we like to keep our emails focused on campaigns creating real-world change for Black folks and our allies. But I'm writing to make an important request for your help with a project that no other Black political organization is working on.

By the end of this month, we need to raise an ambitious $200,000 to ensure that we can move forward with a game-changing plan to combat racism in Hollywood. But I’ve been looking at our numbers, and if we don’t raise $25,000 in the next 48 hours we will be off track to meet our goal.

In 2016, we will be opening a new office hub in Hollywood and hiring new staff to take on the negative and distorted portrayals of Black Americans coming from Hollywood. From this new office, our staff will put constant pressure on Hollywood stakeholders to shift how Hollywood portrays Black Americans.

But we’ll only be able to make this game-changing plan a reality if we raise $25,000 in the next 48 hours. Will you chip in $15 and help us take on Hollywood’s racism ?

Yes – I’ll chip in $15 to help raise $25,000 in the next 48 hours.

The negative and distorted portrayals of Black Americans coming from Hollywood play an important role in creating the exaggerated views of Black people as violent, aggressive, and criminal, as well as hypersexual, unjustifiably angry, and uncaring. For many Americans, the deepest relationship they have with Black people are the relationships they have with these distorted Black characters on television.

We’re going to change that. From our successful campaigns pressuring SNL to hire Black writers and pressuring Bravo to cut racist stereotypes from their “reality” TV shows we’ve learned one key lesson - to make big changes to Hollywood culture we need a physical presence. With a physical presence in Hollywood, we will be able to put constant pressure on key Hollywood stakeholders, establishing a presence inside writers’ rooms - pitching story ideas and content to shift narratives on screen, connect Hollywood stakeholders with research experts and racial justice leaders, and uplift and support the work of people of color in the industry.

This ambitious project will allow us to more effectively support accurate representations of people of color while directly challenging content that promotes harmful stereotypes.

But we’ll only be able to move forward with this game-changing plan if we raise $200,000 this month. And if we don’t raise $25,000 in the next 48 hours, we might miss that goal. Can you help us stay on track to meet our goal by chipping in $15?

By chipping in $15 right now, you’ll ensure that we can take on racism in Hollywood in a way that other organizations can’t. We can’t afford to start off the new year behind – this work is too important. Will you chip in right now ?

Yes, I’ll make a year-end donation to ColorOfChange.

Thanks and peace,

Sonia

Finance Director

---

ColorOfChange is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.