United, We Rise
This past week, my attention has been glued to what’s unfolding in Los Angeles, where Trump has called in the National Guard and the Marines to suppress overwhelmingly peaceful protests against federal raids on immigrant communities. I know I’m not alone in this. These feel like unprecedented times. Like so many of us, I feel gutted about what the raids mean for immigrant families, and what this federal aggression means for our democracy. I also find myself pondering what the federal response means for other rights-based movements, including for the environmental movement. The strands that connect the push for immigrant rights and environmental rights are many. The environmental justice movement, for example, has early roots in the fight for farmworkers rights, which united the causes of worker and immigrant justice and drew early attention the health impacts of pesticide exposure. Immigrant communities in the United States have long been the first in line to be exposed to toxic air and water, and today find themselves on the frontlines of the climate crisis as well. They are also on the frontlines of disaster recovery efforts, including in Los Angeles, where they comprise a large share of the workforce cleaning up after the recent wildfires. The federal escalation of force in Los Angeles is meant to stymie resistance, whether over immigration policies, environmental rollbacks, or any other number of issues. But so far it hasn’t managed to silence us. Rather, it is having the opposite effect, bringing us together in our conviction to defend the rights of people and the places we care about, spurring us to action. Case in point — there are at least 1,800 “No Kings” protests planned across the country this weekend. In other words, as social movement expert Dana Fisher said in a recent conversation with the Journal, we might find that a “broader sense of collective risk … builds power and builds capacity.” (See below) I’d like to think that’s the direction we’re headed.
|
