Statement: Defund the police, transform our future
George Floyd should still be alive today. The horror we felt watching the shocking video of his murder echoes the horror of centuries of racist oppression in the United States and across the world.
The Climate Mobilization stands in solidarity with the protesters on the streets of America and across the world who refuse to accept a return to the status quo of oppression and discrimination. There is no going back to “normal.” “Normal” was unequal, unjust, and devastating — a path leading straight to collapse.
Black lives matter. We demand an end to police terror. We demand justice for George Floyd. We demand justice for Breonna Taylor. We demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery. We demand justice for Tony McDade. We demand justice for the many others killed without making headlines. They should all still be alive today. The status quo of state-sponsored violence against Black people and people of color must end. It’s time to defund the police.
Antiblack violence is used to instill fear in the greater population to discourage the mass mobilization needed to address the Climate Emergency and the many issues plaguing our society.
Reckoning with the truth of the Climate Emergency includes reckoning with the legacy and present reality of police brutality, racism, and oppression that undergirds it. This oppression is a barrier to the future world we seek to create.
We must reclaim our future in order to build a new one — a new future that protects life and works for everyone — a future where truth, justice, democracy, dignity, and regeneration serve as the foundation for a more caring society. The people who are demanding justice and transformative change now are showing us the way.
We seek a world where corporations are no longer protected from the damage they commit against the planet, their workers, and the communities in which they operate. We seek a world where budgets designed to militarize communities of color are shifted to community-controlled programs. We seek a 10-year mobilization that restores a safe climate and provides real opportunities for those who are denied freedom because of their economic status, and who are disproportionately suffering from pollution and climate-related health impacts.
It is up to us to build this new world, together, at emergency speed. And we are all in.
Sincerely,
The Climate Mobilization Team