Introducing Black Oranges

On July 4th, 2020, Black Oranges launched our movement with a very successful social media campaign: “#GetOffTheBench.” We asked everyone to get off the bench and make a pledge to do at least one thing to help end systemic racism.  As a helpful resource we created a simple action guide (found on www.blackoranges.org) for anyone who wanted ideas on how to be an ally in the movement.  Action items were anything from reading a book to enhance your knowledge or something more hands-on, like signing up for your local police review board.  We asked everyone to document their actions and then share the experience on social media platforms using the hashtags #getoffthebench and #blackoranges44.  Please visit Instagram and Facebook to see the results. Our members posted hundreds of pictures sharing their activities of education, advocacy, and actions to help end systemic racism. Our initial goal to flood social media on July 4, with images and videos of love, charity and social action was extremely successful along with numerous donations made to the Syracuse University “Our Time Has Come” Scholarship, (in Honor Of “Black Oranges”).  

As a result of our initial efforts the Syracuse University department has asked a few members of Black Oranges to sit on an advisory task force to help them with their Diversity and Inclusion efforts, which we humbly accepted. We have also grown to 370 members, representing all sports, flavors of humanity, and exceptional allies.