FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Greenpeace supports the tens of thousands expected to strike in more than 25 cities July 20 in a Strike for Black Lives, demanding that corporations and governments take action to confront the systemic racism that is damaging Black and Brown communities. The same systems that oppress Black and Brown communities are destroying our planet. We know that environmental justice and racial justice are inextricably linked.
Lindsey Allen, Greenpeace USA Chief Program Officer said:
“The health impacts of pollution and the destruction wrought by climate-fueled extreme weather suck social and economic resources from Black and Brown communities in the same way that bloated police budgets divert investment from education, healthcare, and strengthening communities. Subsidizing fossil fuels and militarized police forces limits investment in community-powered clean energy and restorative programs. These are the same resources and investments that white, privileged communities leverage into socioeconomic mobility across generations.”
Nationwide, workers are going on strike July 20 and will be joined by many more who will walk off their jobs for eight minutes, 46 seconds to remember George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and other Black people killed by police and demand an end to the systemic racism that led to their murders. Across the country, youth and climate activists will join in the actions to show the intersectionality of the fights for justice.
Lauren Wiggins, Greenpeace USA Digital Campaigner, said:
“Police violence, climate impacts, and pollution are all crises disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities. This inequality has been embedded within our laws and institutions from the very beginning, when European settlers stole Indigenous land and enslaved millions of African people to build their country. The legacy of these institutional injustices lives on in the over-policing of Black and Brown neighborhoods, the erasure of racially disparate health impacts in environmental policy, and more. We cannot achieve environmental justice without racial justice.”
Major national labor and worker, climate, and social justice organizations are participating in strikes and protests in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Harrisburg, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Martinsville, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, Sacramento, Scranton, Seattle, St. Louis, St. Paul, Toledo, Yakima and more.
DISMANTLING RACIST POLICIES
Striking workers are demanding solutions from government and corporations that center communities of color and dismantle racist policies to make sure every family is healthy, safe, and secure, no matter their race, immigration status, job, or where they live. Specifically striking workers are demanding:
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Justice for Black communities, with an unequivocal declaration that Black Lives Matter, as a necessary first step to winning justice for all workers.
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Elected officials and candidates at every level must use their executive, legislative, and regulatory authority to begin to rewrite the rules and reimagine our economy and democracy so that communities of every race can thrive.
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Corporations take immediate action to dismantle racism, white supremacy, and economic exploitation wherever it exists, including in our workplaces. This includes corporations raising wages, allowing workers to form unions, providing healthcare, sick leave and expanded healthcare coverage to people who are uninsured or have lost coverage as the result of losing their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, child care support and more, to disrupt the multigenerational cycle of poverty created by their anti-worker attacks.
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Every worker must have the opportunity to form a union, no matter where they work.
ENDS
Contact: Valentina Stackl, [email protected], (734) 276 6260
