For Immediate Release April 23, 2021
Contact: 202-340-0976 kari@climatejusticealliance.org 612-749-8788 meron@climatejusticealliance.org
There is No Climate Justice Without Abolition
Abolish the Police, Dismantle White Supremacy, Not Another Black Life
As the Black Caucus of Climate Justice Alliance we join calls with our families, friends, and comrades to demand the abolishment of all systems of harm including the police, and investment in self-determined communities. We cannot care for Mother Earth and not care for Black life. We believe that our communities deserve more than a system that was built to fail us. Our communities demand real safety from harm from state actors as well as environmental issues precipitated by state policies because we are resilient, we have kept our neighbors safe, taught our children how to navigate and survive an unjust system designed to maximize harm and limit our prosperity, and we are still fighting for justice! For decades we have moved to dismantle these burdens. We want and we deserve more! White supremacy is a threat to the livelihoods and security of our communities. Policing has always been and will always be used as a force in continued oppression of marginalized people and communities. The United States was founded and sustains itself through the enslavement, extraction, and exploitation of Black people and culture. In the same moment we celebrate a conviction in the murder of George Floyd and the Justice Department opens investigations into the Minneapolis police department, there has yet to be a just due process for Breonna Taylor. Now we mourn the lives of Daunte Wright, a 20 year old young Black man in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota; Adam Toledo a 13 year-old Latino child in Little Village, Chicago, Illinois; and most recently Ma’Khia Bryant a 16-year-old Black girl in Columbus, Ohio; described as “..a very loving, peaceful little girl”, and the countless names that will not reach a national platform. As long as the U.S. project persists white supremacy will always be the central issue. These youth are just recent examples of a failed system, there is no justice in death and we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors here and abroad in demanding more. The recent verdict was a celebration of a broken system keeping one of their own accountable, but we know this is not a common practice and we know true justice will not be brought by a system built on the entrapment and death of our people. We want an end to all policing, all prisons and the freedom and liberation of our people. We believe in self-determined communities, building toward collective governance, and centering communal care and control over our means of production as we build on the solutions and knowledge we already have to thrive as community. To Black people – Here is your reminder that Black healing is resistance. Take time to mourn, to heal, to recenter your joy and care for yourself and your communities. If you want to hit the streets and protest, your rage is valid. If you want to stay in the house and rest, your break is valid — Lean into what you need and lean on your loved ones, take as much space as needed. We encourage you to stay organized with your communities, continue to build trusted relationships, mutual aid support and find your role within the fight for Black liberation. To accomplices – Here is how you can activate yourself: join local organizing efforts, support mutual aid efforts, follow the lead of the most impacted. Address and dismantle anti-Black racism, it is your duty to educate yourself, your families, friends and neighbors. Organize your communities in dismantling white supremacy. We don’t want allyship, we demand accomplices. This isn’t the time to just talk about it, we want you to be about it. Finally, we cannot celebrate “Earth Day” without centering Black freedom and liberation. Black communities are disproportionately vulnerable to climate hazards, living closer to toxic waste sites, as well as impacts from hurricanes and flooding. It is not only policing and prisons but a climate crisis that attempts to cut Black life short. Justice for Black Lives and Communities is a key pillar for building a regenerative and sustainable future. Today, we ask you to join Climate Justice Alliance member group Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy and Movement for Black Lives in a call for a Red, Black & Green New Deal. The Red, Black & Green New Deal is a strategic agenda for holistically empowering the lives of Black people while addressing the root causes of the global climate disaster. Visit rbgnd.org and follow the hashtag #RBGND for more information and updates. Black community organizations and leaders can learn more about the Red, Black & Green New Deal here: tinyurl.com/rbgndjoin Accomplices can sign up to learn more here: tinyurl.com/rbgndalliednetwork We ask you to direct all donations and support to the families!
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