Jeanne —
Anyone who has read about the cold-blooded murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, or Ahmaud Arbery can understand the fury erupting across the country — and finally, more than two thirds of Americans do understand that police brutality is a systemic problem. But we need to do much more than simply understand: we need to dismantle white supremacy.
350 Seattle wholeheartedly supports the demands emerging from the leaders of the Black community, both nationally and locally (these and these).
We cannot build a sustainable world using existing infrastructure that devalues the lives of people of color. As climate scientist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson says, “Our racial inequality crisis is intertwined with our climate crisis. If we don’t work on both, we will succeed at neither.” Climate justice means following the leadership of those that are most impacted.
To build the world we need, it is essential that we defund the police (as Los Angeles has just pledged to begin doing, and Minneapolis is moving towards), end the relationship between our schools and the Seattle Police department (as Minneapolis has just done), and invest in communities of color. Just as we need to stop the flow of money into new fossil fuel infrastructure, we need to stop funding heavily militarized police forces that kill over 1,000 people a year and terrorize Black communities. Years of attempted reform have resulted in almost no change; this is not an institution that can continue in its current incarnation.
Here are four ways you can help right now:
- Support the demand to defund the Seattle Police Department by signing this petition. (You can learn more here.)
- Amplify the demands of the Movement for Black Lives on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and support the leadership of Black-led organizations in turning these demands into reality.
- Sign the petition to sever ties between the Seattle Police Department and Seattle Public Schools.
- Join the General Strike this Friday, and the Statewide Silent March if you can (wear a mask!)
Responding to the climate crisis effectively and humanely requires our collective liberation from systems that devalue and abuse human beings and the planet —and that liberation, in turn, requires what Michelle Alexander calls “a politics of deep solidarity rooted in love.” We’re doing our best to show up for this radically important moment, and we hope you will too.
In solidarity,
350 Seattle
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350 Seattle
1127 10th Ave. East #1
Seattle, WA 98102
United States