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Color Of Change helps you do something real about injustice.

We design campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champion solutions that move us all forward. Until justice is real.
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  • Black Patients Guide to COVID-19

    Black Patients' Guide to COVID-19 Vaccine Out Now

    Color Of Change teamed up Dr. Ruth Arumala to share best practices for combatting COVID-19 in the Black community. Get answers to your questions about the vaccine, distribution, and how to protect yourself.
    Read Our Guide

  • Let's Protect Black Mothers' Health

    Black mothers are 3 to 4x more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes than white mothers. But we can create a healthcare system that cares for all mothers. What would that world look like to you?
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  • Remind the World Who's on Trial: the Cop that Killed George Floyd

    As Derek Chauvin stands trial, his legal team is trying to divert blame and drag George Floyd's name through the mud. Don't believe them. There is NO EXCUSE for murder. #JusticeForFloyd now!
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  • NCAA It's Time to Pay Black Players

    Every March, the NCAA makes hundreds of millions off the unpaid labor of Black college athletes. While they put their health on the line for free during COVID-19, NCAA staff and coaches make a killing. It's time to support the College Athletes Bill of Rights!
    Take Action

  • Congress, Hold Abusive Cops Accountable

    In the 1960s, the Supreme Court created qualified immunity and limited civilians’ right to sue police officers for excessive force. Murder after murder, they get off -- we get no justice. But Congress can end it and protect Black people.
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  • Break Up Big Tech!

    For years, we’ve wondered why Google, Facebook, and Twitter won’t stop promoting the kinds of conspiracy theories that led to the attack on the Capitol. The reason? Their platforms are built to foster engagement and growth--at ALL costs. It's time for legislation.
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  • Tell Congress to Eliminate Student Debt

    For too long, Black people have been trapped in lifelong, impossible-to-repay student loans. With the pandemic, people are struggling to make rent and stay afloat. Now's the time to cancel student debt.
    Take Action

  • Investigate the Rochester PD Now

    Sign our petition and make a short video demanding the DOJ investigate the RPD. Rochester police murdered Daniel Prude, maced a 9-year-old Black girl, and these same officers were involved in brutality against Black people. We deserve a federal investigation!
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  • Biden, Give Clemency to 100 Black Women

    It's no secret that Black women are the fastest-growing population in prison. We're asking President Biden to use his power to release 100 Black women who are elderly, seriously, terminally ill, or have already served more than 10 years.
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  • Black Patients Guide to COVID-19

    The Black Patient's Guide to COVID-19 - Vol 2

    FACT: Black people have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. That's why we made the Black Patient's Guide to COVID-19 Volume 2.
    Read it here!

RECENT VICTORIES

  • Voting & Democracy

Victory for Poll Workers in GA

All eyes are on Georgia’s runoff elections where the fate of the Senate hangs in the balance. After poll workers–many of whom are Black women–were harassed, Color Of Change launched a campaign with UltraViolet. Together we demanded Facebook shut down the right-wing groups targeting poll workers, reminding execs that online harassment leads to real-world violence. Some poll workers received death threats; one even found a noose outside his home with his name on it. Recently Facebook announced poll workers will now be included in their Protect Program, given extra safety and privacy protections. Poll workers defend our democracy; they should never have to live in fear. The fight is not over as the move came only after immense pressure from Color Of Change and partners. We continue to press Facebook to stop putting Black lives and votes at risk. 

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  • Criminal Justice

Tampa’s District Attorney Drops Bogus Charges Against COC & BLM Organizers

This summer, Tampa’s Police Department systematically tried to intimidate and harass Black activists. On August 22, the sheriff violently arrested a Color Of Change organizer in her home and arrested 3 other organizers – all on trumped-up, bogus charges. This was clearly meant to instill fear in activists fighting for racial justice. These tactics are not unique to Tampa. We’ve seen local police and federal agents target protesters in Portland, New York, Chicago, and St. Louis too. 50,000 Color Of Change members joined our campaign to drop the prosecution of the protesters and fire the police chief. Less than 2 weeks later, the Hillsborough State Attorney dropped the charges. We hope it sends a signal to Tampa police that there will be consequences for harassing and intimidating Black protesters.

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  • Tech Justice

Google Blocks Proud Boys’ Website & Online Store

We were all horrified when, on live TV during the presidential debates, President Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” instead of condemning white nationalists. But Color Of Change’s work to pressure tech companies to take responsibility for how their platforms are used is having an impact. Google quickly moved to get a Google Cloud Services customer to remove the Proud Boys’ site and online store – effectively cutting off the hate group from new money and potential members. They also worked with us when news broke about the Wolverine Watchmen, the group plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer. We cannot let domestic terrorists build power online. It’s time for tech companies to create systems to proactively root out racist, extremist behavior on their platforms, instead of waiting for groups like Color Of Change to call them out.

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Color Of Change helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 7 million members, we move decision makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people, and all people. Until justice is real.

IN THE MEDIA

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February 3, 2021

I’m a Writer on Emily in Paris. I May Destroy You Deserved a Golden Globe Nomination.

Color Of Change’s reporting on Hollywood — where 91% of showrunners are white and 80% are male — is cited in this article on how the film, TV, and music are still held back by largely white (and often close-minded) gatekeepers. Emily in Paris writer Deborah Copaken says the fact that her show was nominated for a Golden Globe for best comedy while I May Destroy You was passed over completely for nominations reveals “what is wrong with everything.” After a year of uprisings for racial justice, it turns out, when it comes to our cultural industries, America still has a long way to go. She asks: when we will start giving awards to shows that deserve them, no matter the color of the skin of their creators?

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February 3, 2021

For Black Pioneers Harris and Obama, Different Times Mean Different Approaches on Race

While Barack Obama campaigned for president in 2008 with explicit advice from his inner circle to downplay anything “that might be labeled racial grievance” or would emphasize him as a “the Black candidate,” things are different now. A dozen years later, Kamala Harris is able to lean harder into her public identity as a Black woman taking her place as second-in-command in an administration that has made closing the racial wealth gap one of its policy pillars. Color Of Change Chief of Campaigns Arisha Hatch is quoted. “Both of them are candidates that act as translators on race. We’re just in a different place as a country.” Democrats have realized they would not have won the presidency or control of Congress without the high turnout among Black voters and Black women in particular.

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February 1, 2021

PPP Loans Failed to Reach Communities in Most Need

Truthout republished this investigation by the Center for Public Integrity citing Color Of Change’s survey on the Paycheck Protection Program. The program, intended as pandemic relief for small businesses, never reached most minority-owned businesses. Entrepreneurs say the process felt Byzantine and inequitable. Most loans went to businesses in communities that already had access to resources according to the Center for Public Integrity. Meanwhile Black-, Brown-, women-owned businesses and those in lower income communities have gone under or hover on the verge of bankruptcy. COC Vice President Arisha Hatch is quoted. “We believe that instead of providing desperately needed relief to qualifying small businesses, the PPP propped up so many barriers and reinforced so many racial inequities.”

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February 1, 2021

Rashad Robinson Has Had Enough of Corporate America’s Empty Platitudes

Fast Company features Color Of Change’s work to push companies to get on the right side of history—whether they’re ready or not. What began 15 years ago as a scrappy digital upstart focused on mounting an online response to racial injustice is now one of the heavy hitters in American activism. Their latest victory is getting COPS taken off the air. It also led the charges to demand Facebook and other social media companies take aggressive action to rid their platforms of hate speech, pressuring hundreds of advertisers to temporarily pull their money. And now it’s targeting fast-food companies like McDonald’s and Burger King and retailers such as Nike for talking about racial justice without paying its workers a living wage.

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February 1, 2021

The Loudest Voice: Corporate America Needs to Get on the Right Side of History. Color Of Change Gets It There.

Fast Company profiles Color Of Change’s 15 years of groundbreaking to build a new racial justice movement and hold corporate America responsible for their role in holding back change. Our work to harness the uprisings after George Floyd’s death and turn that into real victories, from the cancelation of Cops to a corporate reckoning on race and equity is described in this article. “The organization’s presence can be felt in nearly every racial civil rights battle currently taking place in America—from corporate boardrooms to television sets to prosecutors’ offices and judges’ chambers.”

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February 1, 2021

Comparison Between Capitol Siege, BLM Protests Is Denounced

Black activists have come out countering the false narrative Republicans are spreading — equating the deadly siege on the Capitol with last summer’s Black Lives Matter uprisings. The latest right-wing effort to misrepresent the BLM movement, they are trying to paint Black activists as violent, anarchist extremists. But BLM leaders distance themselves from provocateurs. In a recent analysis of 7,750 BLM demonstrations in 2,400 locations across the US, it turns out 93% happened with no violence. Color Of Change’s Scott Roberts is quoted saying equating Trump’s rioters to BLM could lead to even heavier law enforcement, surveillance, and violence against Black activists. “There is a real danger of this false equivocation.”

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Strategic Initiatives

Democracy & Census

Black people have the power to shape our democracy and set the agenda when they speak up and turn out in elections. Through our Black Brunches we have brought together more than 20,000 people across 20 cities—including many new to politics. Going into 2020, we have tremendous opportunities to register new voters, protect voting rights, and make sure our communities are counted and represented in the 2020 Census. We are engaging local leaders and our 1.7M members to help set a progressive agenda around criminal justice reform and boost civic participation in Black communities.

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Winning Justice

No one holds more power in our justice system than prosecutors. They decide who to prosecute, what the charges will be, and routinely make decisions that destroy Black people’s lives. We are ushering in a new era of prosecutor accountability by mobilizing Black communities across the country. Already, we've pushed prosecutors and candidates in a dozen cities make pledges to cut incarceration. We continue to build momentum to end the most unjust, destructive and racist practices in our system from money bail to over-sentencing, over-policing, and sending our children to adult prisons.

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COC Hollywood

TV and film play a profound role in shaping American culture. Yet, when it comes to representation of Black people, culture, and issues, far too much of the content Hollywood produces promotes dangerous misunderstandings that holds back racial justice in the real world. COC Hollywood is our initiative to change the rules in Hollywood by ensuring accurate, diverse, empathetic and human portrayals of Black people onscreen. We consult on film and TV projects, partner with changemakers inside the industry, work to raise standards around hiring and diversity, and elevate Black stories.

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