Call BlackLine provides a space for peer support, counseling, reporting of mistreatment, witnessing, and affirming the lived experiences of folks who are most impacted by systematic oppression with an LGBTQ+ Black Femme Lens.
The purpose of the BlackLine is to provide people with an avenue to report negative, physical, and inappropriate contact with police and vigilantes, and to provide immediate crisis counseling to those who are upset, need to talk with someone immediately, or are in distress. There are no formal educational requirements for our listeners, however, they receive intensive crisis counseling training. BlackLine is a unique combination of professional staff, trained volunteers, and collaborative partnerships to create innovative responses to pressing social needs and issues through an unapologetic LGBTQ and Black Femme lens. 1
“If we’re working on providing services for marginalized communities, we can’t continue to use structures and institutions steeped in maintaining the status quo, that work hand in hand with police and systems that continue to cause harm within our community,” founder Vanessa Green says. "Instead, the team connects callers to regional therapists, psychiatrists, homeless shelters, and other resources as needed. Many are Black or Black-led, and all are vetted by Green and a national network of other racial justice and Black Lives Matter organizers, with approval based on Black women and femmes’ past experiences with the resource...Green and the team of 10 volunteers, most Black, queer, and/or differently abled themselves, connect with callers through their shared experiences with racism, violence, and other forms of oppression." 2
"We train anybody who wants to be trained, but most of the people who have stayed with Call BlackLine, even through the hardship, are poor, indigenous, Black, LGBTQ, and Latinx folks. Those folks tend to stay. I find that impacted people, marginalized people, we give all the time. We know that most of the money donated is from poor people or people who don’t have a lot of money. They stay for the long haul, and so they are the ones who’ve been around since the beginning of the hotline," Green explains. 3
BlackLine exists to answer messages from anyone who may be in crisis, wants to describe an interaction with law enforcement or vigilantes, or simply needs to talk through an experience. Callers do not have to provide any personal information to use the service. All calls remain private and will never be shared with law enforcement or state agencies of any kind.
Sources:
1 Call Blackline
2 Tiana Headley, Call BlackLine: Community Care and Liberation on Speed Dial, The River Hudson Valley Newsroom, February 1, 202
3 Álvaro Gamio Cuervo, For the Love and Care of the People: An Interview with Vanessa Green on Call BlackLine Organizing, Mad in America Blog, March 2, 2022