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Hi John,
Black Lives Matter, and climate justice is racial justice.
At 350, we understand that these issues are deeply intertwined, and the work of addressing white supremacy is critical to building a truly just climate movement. We cannot recover our climate without addressing systemic extraction, harm and violence toward Black communities.
Last week, Black climate justice leaders at 350.org presented a powerful webinar calling all non-Black climate organizers deeply into the work of dismantling white supremacy, and providing clear steps that each of us can take to show up for justice today.
And yesterday, thousands marched silently in support of Black Lives Matter in a statewide strike.
Here at 350 Eastside our aim is to build a just future for all. So we invite you to step into solidarity with Black climate justice leadership at 350.org alongside us as we commit ourselves to doing this work. We are united in seeking to dismantle the white supremacy that systemically and actively harms Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
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Will you take these actions today?
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LEARNING
There are loads of resources and education materials available to help yourself do this work. Here are some starter suggestions via 350. We will be continuing to learn through books, articles, talks, films, shows, and deep introspection. We will be continuing to act through calls to reps, signing petitions, voting, and support of black businesses and community orgs. We understand that all of us are responsible for educating ourselves and becoming non-optical allies.
READ 📖
What we must do now to dismantle white supremacy from our Black and brown colleagues at 350.org.
WATCH 🖥
"In Defense of Black Lives" webinar from Dominique, Rell, Tianna, and our other Black colleagues at 350.org, with some incredibly generous but bold and honest talk about the critical role each non-Black person has in the climate movement today, which is to lean deeply into dismantling white supremacy within ourselves as individuals, and in our groups, and do immediate work to show up as true allies to Black leadership in our communities in alignment with the Movement 4 Black Lives.
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DOING
SIGN ON 🖋
Support Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant’s upcoming legislation to ban the use of chemical irritants and chokeholds by the Seattle Police Department by commenting in person (virtually) on Monday, June 8, or via email here.
Sign this local petition to defund the Seattle Police Department, organized by Seattle COVID-19 Mutual Aid and supported by Nikkita Oliver and other Black/Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) organizers in Seattle. Are you part of any organizations? Sign on as an organization. Need to know more about this idea? Here, are, some, recent, articles, to get you started. And here’s the national sign-on.
Following the recent precedent set in Minneapolis and in other school districts across the country, students, parents, teachers, and allies are calling for Seattle Schools to end their relationship with the Seattle Police Department. Sign on to support this demand here and here.
Last week, the University of Minnesota ended its contract with the Minneapolis police union in response to the murder of George Floyd, and students across the country are demanding that colleges do the same. Calling all UW students, alum, employees, faculty: Sign this petition calling on UW administration to cut its contract with SPD.
SHOW UP 👫
Participate in calls for action from the national Movement 4 Black Lives. Visit their website for a list of ongoing action items, broken out into level of risk categories (red, yellow, green) based on the public health crisis.
Additional in-person and virtual events are surfacing daily in Seattle, so use this Seattle Black Lives Matter Solidarity doc for updates. We recommend following local groups on social media for updates, such as Got Green, No New Youth Jail, Not This Time and Black Lives Matter-King County.
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UPCOMING:
#BlackLivesMatter March for Black Lives - It’s Time
When: This Sunday, June 14, @6pm-9pm Where: Westlake Park, Seattle, WA Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1106373393082412/
"Enough is ENOUGH Seattle:
Police are still murdering people with little or no punishment and not being held to a high standard. George Floyd just got murdered, just like Eric Garner. People are still being slaughtered by police at an astronomical level and it has got to stop. Our Lives Matter.
Join us and say and show that police need to be held accountable and held to a high standard regardless of the state or in the world.
It's time to put your mouth and your anger into action."
Juneteenth
Juneteenth (6/19) is a day that honors black resistance and freedom, and this year is particularly opportune for us to come together as a community to demand justice and real change. Let us support the black community as allies in demanding this justice across the country. You can sign up HERE to join now.
Check out these 3 local events in King County for Juneteenth:
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DONATE
Donate to Black Lives Matter Seattle–King County to support Black Lives Matter organizing in and around Seattle. (The bail fund they created received a huge number of donations and is now closed, but you can support the chapter’s general fund.)
The Northwest Community Bail Fund provides cash bail for marginalized people charged with crimes who are unable to afford bail and find themselves incarcerated while awaiting routine court appearances in King and Snohomish Counties in Washington State.
Support legal representation for protesters arrested in Seattle. Funds raised will support Smith Law LLC on costs associated with legal representation. Any remaining funds will be redistributed.
For white and non-Black POC: learn more at defendingblacklives.org about what you can do in the days ahead, wherever you are.
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HEALING 🌿
Enduring work towards progressive change requires constant self check-ins and deep self-care.
For emotional strength and grounding, we suggest spending some time with Healing Resources for BIPOC Organizers & Allies Taking Action for Black Lives from BJ Star and Irresistible, a global community of practice in collective healing and social justice.
SOLIDARITY ART 🎨
We invite you to join us in making art for this moment, in support of Black Life and Defunding the Police to fund Community Care. There is no Climate Justice without Racial Justice.
Make posters for your window or telephone poles; chalk or tempera paint the sidewalks; get conversations going with friends, neighbors, and colleagues to support the uprising for systemic change. No skills needed! More information here. |
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AMAZON ENABLES RACIST SYSTEMS
Amazon's statement of "solidarity with the Black community" rings hollow. Just compare it to what they do: Amazon sells facial recognition software and Ring surveillance access to police departments that kill Black people with impunity; it fires and smears Black employees organizing for better working conditions; and it perpetuates environmental racism with its pollution disproportionately harming Black and Latinx communities.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) endorses the call to Defund Seattle Police. Amazon tech workers recently presented their resolution on eliminating environmental racism to Jeff Bezos at the annual meeting, in collaboration with allies at Center for Community Action on Environmental Justice.
Watch and share this video (here on FB) about how the San Bernardino, California, community is fighting for a Community Benefits Agreement from Amazon. And here’s more about how Amazon’s emissions are hurting communities of color.
Amazon employees: Sign up here to stay in touch with AECJ.
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COVID ***
NEIGHBORHOOD PODS
Responding to the COVID-19 crisis, there are now 40 neighborhood pods and growing in a city-wide network of Mutual Aid to cultivate community resilience. We invite you to take leadership to help grow community within your own neighborhood so that people can help each other where there is need.
Our pods respond to the needs requested through COVID-19 Mutual Aid. We’ve shared requests for mask-making, supplies for striking farmworkers fighting for social distancing conditions, and other opportunities to address the disproportionate impacts the pandemic is having on our most vulnerable communities.
If this resonates with you, contact Lin Hagedorn ([email protected]) or Neal Anderson ([email protected]).
You can join a neighborhood pod here, or better yet, sign up to be a pod captain and lead your neighborhood organizing efforts! We are in plenty of need for more community captains on the Eastside.
KEEPING PEOPLE HOUSED
Senator Maria Cantwell still hasn’t signed onto the Emergency Rental Assistance and Rental Market Stabilization Act—she must need to hear from us some more! Send a letter here.
And although Governor Inslee has extended the eviction moratorium through August 1, we’ll need much more than that to ensure housing security for those housed now, and health and safety for those experiencing homelessness. Here’s a Washington Low Income Housing Alliance petition with actions the Governor should take to help ensure that new and existing COVID-19 resources reach those who need them most.
FARMWORKER SOLIDARITY
Hundreds of fruit-packing workers in the Yakima Valley have gone on strike over the last month, demanding hazard pay and protections from COVID-19. At several companies, strikes have won meaningful improvements, but at Columbia Reach, the management is still refusing to negotiate with workers who have been on strike for three weeks.
The workers have asked for community members to call Columbia Reach owner Bruce Allen and urge him to negotiate safe and fair working conditions and wages right now: 208-264-5712. Here's more info and a script.
This excellent article by David Bacon gives more background on the strikes.
Spread the word on social media about the situation of fruit workers in the Yakima Valley by sharing this video (en español) and updates from Familias Unidas por la Justicia.
Funds are still needed to cover lodging for the team of organizers on the ground, port-a-potties at the strike line, and gas for caravans to Olympia to pressure the state to take action; if you are able, use the Donate link here.
Art and supplies to support strikers: Paint and donate umbrellas and signs for farm workers striking for basic protections against COVID-19 exposure! Support is greatly appreciated, and there are frequent runs of supplies going from Seattle.
With questions, supplies such as umbrellas to donate, or banners/signs, you can contact Lisa with 350 Seattle.
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PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY
As this whirlwind moment exposes the racism inherent in public institutions, the People’s Assembly process offers a real alternative that restores public dialogue and strengthens actual democracy while subverting politics as usual.
Assemblies randomly sort residents into a mirror of the people, representative for ethnicity, gender, age, income, politics, and location. These forums amplify minority and frontline voices, creating space so each one influences the whole to shape the climate policies that will impact their families most.
Committee chairs in the state legislature have stepped up, calling for an online assembly to address climate change this summer.
That’s great, but it’s going to take some work, starting with fundraising and organizing. Can you help? Learn more and get involved at ClimateAssembly.us.
STOP THE MONEY PIPELINE
Defund the Police: As the call to defund the police reverberates nationally and locally, Stop the Money Pipeline placed this op-ed in Common Dreams about why every climate activist should be supportive of the demand to defund the police.
Chase: This month was Chase’s largest shareholder meeting of the year. The night before, we partnered with New York activists to beam 30-foot-high messages from people from around the country right across the street from Jamie Dimon’s Park Avenue home. At Chase the next day, there was one big surprise: 49.6% of shareholders voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the bank to produce a detailed report on how it intends to align its lending model with the Paris Agreement. You can read more about our take on that in the op-ed here (written by Alec Connon with 350 Seattle).
Liberty Mutual: A new report reveals that Liberty Mutual is one of the largest advertisers on Fox News, backing programs that spout disinformation about COVID-19 (with the same tactics they have long used to seed climate denial). And in this moment, many of these same programs are saying that systemic racism isn’t real and cheering on violence against protesters. Now, more than ever, sign on to demand that Liberty Mutual stop advertising on Fox News.
The Stand Up To Oil coalition hosted a webinar on resistance to the Trans Mountain pipeline, featuring Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. We took collective action to demand that the pipeline’s insurers drop the toxic project, as the insurance policy is up in August. Call Liberty Mutual and AIG today and demand that they drop their coverage for Trans Mountain.
TACOMA LNG
Join Native Daily Network and 350 Seattle for an online screening and panel discussion of the 2018 documentary Ancestral Waters.
This film follows the Puyallup Tribe and Puyallup Water Warriors in the fight to protect their Treaty, their water, and their way of life from Puget Sound Energy's massive fracked gas refinery and storage facility currently being built on Medicine Creek Treaty Territory.
This project has been controversial from the start—construction beginning before permits were issued, without legally mandated consultation with the Tribe; no health or safety assessments analyzed; data for air emissions based on science over a decade old; and underreported methane leakage rates. The air permit will see the Puyallup Tribe and Earthjustice’s legal appeal decided in court this coming October.
Online Screening: Ancestral Waters Wednesday, June 17, 7:00–9:00pm Thursday, June 18, 12:00–2:00pm
Register here | shareable event page here | Trailer here
There will be a panel after the film to dig into the similarities between police violence, environmental racism, and unequal legal protections that we see play out in the film, to the systemic issues at the heart of the current movement for Black Lives Matter.
PORT OF SEATTLE
While the Port of Seattle has officially put plans for a new, third cruise ship terminal on hold until at least the fall, we must work to ensure the costly expansion is canceled permanently. Please sign the petition here!
Currently, Port Commissioners plan to look at only the profitability of the cruise market this fall to determine whether they move forward. NOT enough! They should be considering the health consequences for communities, the climate impacts of such a fossil-fuel-intensive industry, and the equity concerns of prioritizing luxury leisure travel over our health and planet.
Can you help us tell our elected Port Commissioners to permanently abandon cruise expansion plans? Public comment is accepted twice a month at Commission meetings, and we are encouraging people to just speak from the heart. You can participate via phone! Details here.
To learn more, check out the new website SeattleCruiseControl.org and watch this recent webinar on the impacts of cruise ships, Seattle's expansion plans, and how you can help stop it!
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NEXT GENERAL MEETING
Please join us for our next general meeting this upcoming Wednesday, June 17th at 7pm. We will be discussing the Environmental Voters Project with our guest Roberta Rominger -- it’s never too early to start thinking about the November election, and this one will be monumental!
Zoom info: Time: Jun 17, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87019765461?pwd=WDJsMVplZUJIdGtFaEJWSlphMjVOZz09 Meeting ID: 870 1976 5461 Password: 931332
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As always, thanks for your commitment to creating a just world with us.
Keep loving, keep fighting.
In solidarity with Black lives,
Emily, Lin, Sara, Phil, Lynn, and Marilyn 350 Eastside Steering
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