By donating, you are helping a family keep the lights on and bills paid while filming the truth live. We am not a corporate entity making political contributions with your donations. We are a struggling family, who has to buy diapers and pay for child care and pay rent. Our donations are used so that we can document the truth; we spend it on necessities in the field, supplies like wi-fi, battery packs, housing, transportation, meals, etc. All contributions are appreciated, as this is the type of funding that allows us to tell the truth, and film live without any censorship. A layout of our expenses can be found here. Thank you for your help.
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One time Donations to Bella Eiko Media
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Revolutionary Wedding Gifts!!
In 2011, I started livestreaming the Occupy Oakland protests. Partly out of a concern for my own safety, but mostly because documenting the police abuses was the only plausible way to combat the things I saw day after day. I continued my coverage of Occupy Oakland, Anaheim and beyond for the next 3 years. As my supporters, people have watched my viewpoints be radicalized and my community organizing passion grow. Whether it was the passionate call for local justice, while pregnant, to the Oakland city council or the birth of my son, to the struggle of documenting the Ferguson protests and the loss of my Mother; this activist family has seen me through many things, ugly and beautiful alike.
In July of 2014 the NYPD murdered Eric Garner and the familiar struggle of police targeting an aggression was filmed by Ramsey Orta. In the face of sever opposition, Ramsey continued to fight the good fight against police misconduct. In April 2015, Rikers Island meatloaf was found to contain rat poison and even though his freedom and life was being threatened, Ramsey never stopped fighting. After being systematically targeted and jailed for filming the murder of Eric Garner and experiencing a real attempt on his life, he was released from jail, and joined We CopWatch. Despite his own cases brought on by targeting h took part in cross country travels to work with WeCopWatch and on this trip, our romance budded and grew exponentially. In December of 2015 we were married quietly in New York. Many people found out about Ramsey and I being married through social media after it had already happened. In no way has our relationship been a traditional one and our wedding gifts shouldn't be either. In the spirit of the events that took place to bring us together, we have decided to celebrate our union by increasing community awareness when interacting with police. The ideal goal is to host small events with local organizations across the 5 boroughs in New York, while providing training workshops and pamphlets to take home. These pamphlets would have applicable local legislation to enforce the rights of citizens as well as contact information for the community organizations that can assist with various instances of police interaction. As always, if the budget allows, food will be included. After all, it is a revolutionary act to care for self and one another. We believe that giving each community the tools to arm itself is the most effective way to empower a community to stand up and fight back against injustices. Ordinarily people of color living in lower socio-economic conditions are not informed of their rights or how to assert them effectively. Often times these same communities are unaware of legal resources available to them and how to fight back. This is where we come in, but we can't do that without the support of the people; we sure won't get it from any state organization. Instead of toasters and silverware or his and hers towels (as cute as that all is), Ramsey and I have decided that we would like to get out into the community. We are asking for help getting promotional materials like paper & ink, buttons (maybe a button maker if we can swing it), tape, banner making supplies (ones that can handle serious elements) as well as hoodies. We've already chipped in what we can and need a bit more for the wide scale operation we plan on unleashing across the 5 boroughs of New York. This is our way of celebrating our union; empowering the community to fight against the very system that oppresses us all. Thank you to all who are able to help us reach this goal! All Power to the People! Bella & Ramsey Click here to donate |