The Common Humanity Collective Winter Update
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Action is the antidote to despair
It's plain to see that 2024 has been another year marred by the engines of capitalist and imperialist aggression as millions are caught in cyclical intensifications of violence. While these forces can seem impossible to overcome, it's all the more important that we engage collectively to care for one another and persist in our struggle to create the world we envision-borne from our actions here in the present. We at CHC continue to move resolutely in our practice of mutual aid, committed to being a project that seeks to embolden all those victimized by the violence of our systems. As we prepare to confront the upcoming challenges, we also strive to follow BDS principles in support of a Free Palestine and protect our Queer, immigrant, and BIPOC neighbors and friends.
Around the last time you heard from us at the start of the summer, we had 6 “V1” DIY air purifiers and 2 “Flow Easels,” down from our goal of having roughly 15 DIY air purifiers on-hand at any time to be able to respond to requests. (Not that running low is bad in itself—we’ve been embracing an “it’s good to run out” philosophy about getting the supplies that we collect and make out into the community for people to use!) We quickly planned a mini build, where we also met several people who happened across our assembly space and were curious to learn more about what we were working on. We shared information about how these DIY air purifiers could offer more protection during the COVID-19 surge we were experiencing, plus the other threats from the looming wildfire season, and distributed some on the spot! We also made a connection with someone coordinating the food pantry at the East Oakland Senior Center who was interested in working with us to get purifiers to the elders in his community. Later on, we heard from a former build volunteer who wanted to plan a Clean Air Day build and we invited the EOSC food program coordinator to get things started (keep reading for more!).
Shortly after our mini build, the team at Radically Fit, a community gym for all queer, trans, POC, big bodied and fat identified folks, reached out to us about securing masks and purifiers for their space. That led to a CHC organizer joining their cross-pollination event to distribute masks and talk about how we could support each other. Radically Fit hosted us for a build where we assembled 55 V1s, some that immediately went to Disability Justice League Bay Area, and CR boxes for the gym's community. It was a great day reconnecting with comrades, including but not limited to SDA, Mask Bloc Sunset SF, and Mask Bloc East Bay! We also received extremely helpful feedback that informed a photo/video protocol at builds to honor attendees’ privacy, plus ways to better set expectations and welcome build volunteers who are new to CHC.
Around this time, we joined the resource fair at StaceyFest, the first disability culture festival in recent memory, after learning about the fest from our friends at Mask Oakland. It was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Stacey Park Milbern, whose ongoing legacy includes housing advocacy, her work during the California wildfires, COVID and care rationing. On the disability justice front, we signed an anti-mask ban statement and co-sponsored a teach-in with SDA Masks for Equity on fighting mask bans (watch the recording here). This teach-in took place right after the UC and Cal State systems announced a crackdown on protest in response to the Student Intifada, which instructed campuses to roll out encampment and mask bans. To learn more, we recommend reading and sharing this zine on resisting mask bans, which calls for a diversity of tactics inspired by the 2020 prisoner revolts against neglectful COVID practices.
Ever since we rescued ~30,000 N95s from being dumped by a local corporation that had hoarded them until "expiration" (more on the safety of expired N95s here from our friends at Mask Bloc East Bay), we've been wanting to proactively distribute these masks to folks outside of CHC's network. Since we're a small mutual aid group, much of our time goes to supporting requests we receive, but that leaves out a lot of our neighbors who don't know about CHC or who may not be able to reach out to us. Thanks to the energy and labor of new CHC organizers, we've been working on a mask mutual aid outreach project to more widely meet the survival needs in our communities through other existing distro structures. These masks have made their way to Food Not Bombs in SF and East Bay, Rad Mission Neighbors' Laundry Day, Flying Over Walls, CALMA's day laborer outreach, Homecooked Care for Liberation, Oakland Abolition & Solidarity, Nikkei Resisters, and Hijas del Campo's farmworker outreach.
Another project being piloted that wouldn't have been possible without newer CHCers: lending community-funded supplies to check yourself for COVID-19 using PCR-accurate molecular tests. Throughout the pandemic, rapid antigen tests have been the cheapest and easiest to find option for COVID-19 testing. But these tests are not reliably accurate, especially when people use them early in an infection without repeated testing. Over time, better alternatives like molecular testing have become available - but at prices that average people can't afford. Through a mutual aid group we've collaborated with before, we learned about interest in helping us stock Metrix tests and readers for folks in the Bay Area taking precautions against COVID. We're in the process of piloting this project and hope to share more with you all soon!
Back to the Clean Air Day build: this grew from a connection back in 2021 between CHC and Sunrise Movement Sonoma County + Bay Area. A volunteer who joined a CHC build back then, now with HOPE Collaborative, got in touch with us early in 2024 about contributing to a zine about air quality. Please take some time to read the Air Quality Resource Guide, where we shared information about DIY air purifiers with communities in Oakland! Then in September, we co-led a build together to distribute 30 DIY air purifiers for folks who come to the East Oakland Senior Center. East Oakland faces disproportionate amounts of pollution exposure due to traffic from the 880 freeway, diesel trucks driving through neighborhoods, and emissions from the airport. These purifiers will help our neighbors breathe easier in their homes! Check out this tutorial one of the build attendees created about just how easy it is to DIY:
![A masked volunteer with a Boba Fett-style ballcap giving a peace sign. The words "diy air purifiers! instructions at end with Common Humanity Collective [pin emoji] Oakland, CA" are underneath. On the bottom left is a timer emoji and "35 seconds"](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec5bb20ca73ae4300cda719/9c5c8427-b95f-4c06-9bb9-5950ce371e69/Screenshot+2024-12-20+121304.png)
Most recently, we hosted a build of Corsi-Rosenthal (C-R) boxes at a middle school in East Oakland! We first heard from an OUSD art teacher in August after she learned about CHC from a former build volunteer. Our previous school builds were luckily covered through our partnerships with groups like West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) or teachers themselves have worked to find educational funds. This time, one of our newer CHC organizers secured free fans and filter supplies for this build. (If you're interested in doing this with your own school, check out this opportunity.) Five organizers helped assemble and distribute 30 CR boxes, and families were thrilled to learn how to build DIY air purifiers. During the build, one participant shared that she had wanted one, but thought you had to pay a lot of money for them. Another woman who built one was ecstatic at doing her first “science project” since she had been in school!
Other highlights from the year:
We joined a WOEIP informational meeting about the physics of filtration, and whether furnace filters catch particulates finer than PM2.5
CHC organizers worked to get free GRIFITI bands, 3M Vflexes, 3M Auras, KF94s, and vented KN95s
We got some press: Wildfires bring poor air quality to Southern California: Here’s tips on how to stay safe, by Iman Palm, KTLA, Sep. 11, 2024
We lent purifiers (+ gave some away) and distributed masks for events like a masks-required TTRPG fundraiser for Gaza and East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest, plus groups like Winter Relief Mutual Aid and the newly formed Mask Bloc UCB
We brainstormed disaster prep and response mutual aid projects-if you have suggestions for us or skills to share, please reach out
We started working on making mask variety packs as well as on a collaboration to conduct quantitative (instrumented) mask fit testing—stay tuned
We prototyped a “skinny” C-R box design using a Vornado “panel fan”
We met a lot of requests—including from as far away as Humboldt!
And our organizing crew doubled in size! That means new energy, ideas, and projects.
Please get in touch with us here if you want to collaborate on a build together for folks who need more protection from air pollution, wildfire smoke, and COVID-19! We want to thank you all for the signal-boosting and support, both with coming out to builds and sending us what you can spare to sustain CHC's mutual aid. We have just about $2,000 left that we're trying to raise by the end of this year/early next year. Even if all you can send is $5, if everyone receiving this email did the same, we would be set! We also still have some lovely foil art you can purchase from local Bay Area artist JoyousJoyfulJoyness, from which we get a cut (see also this Insta post).
We always appreciate donations of KN95/KF94 or better masks. We're also currently looking for a new way to cut cardboard shrouds for our DIY air purifiers. Earlier this year Automatic Arts discontinued their die cutting services, which was how we used to stamp-cut shrouds in large quantities for cheap. Lately, determined build volunteers have been hand-cutting each one, which is how we’ve managed to keep making V1s and C-R boxes, but we could increase our output with machine-cut shrouds. We’ve been looking into our options at local makerspaces that offer laser cutting, like Double Union and Noisebridge. Ideally we would have more than one source. If you might be able to help with access to a laser cutter of at least 20 x 20” capacity, or if you know of a place that would let us use one of their machines for free or low cost, please get in touch! (Note: we want to cut the shrouds in a space that doesn’t work with carbon fiber.) Here's the shroud design file for reference.
Let us toss out an idea for something that you can do on your own: start a block-sized mutual aid group with your neighbors. Exchange contact info, talk about potential natural and human-made emergencies, see if you can help each other meet your needs (maybe CHC can help with that!). Thanks again to all those who have joined us at meetings, builds, or distributions this year or who are just keeping up with what's going on by reading this. Especially amidst the menacing national and international political environment, we treasure being in community with you and getting better-connected with our neighbors and allies, interpersonally and through mutual aid.