One year ago, on July 12, Black Lives Matter organized Black Lives Matter Sunday in response to the massacre of nine people at the Emanual African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, and the burning of at least 7 Black churches across the South. Despite unprecedented media attention to police killings of Black people and growing public outrage, anti-Black violence is just as prevalent today.
Now we grieve the murder of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and are sending our thoughts and prayers to their families, friends and loved ones. Our hearts go out to them and all Black and brown people who have lost their lives to state-sanctioned violence.
The Climate Justice Alliance stands with Black Lives Matter and recognizes the urgency of fighting against anti-Blackness in our communities. Our statement from last year remains relevant today:
“As an alliance of community-led, frontline organizations we understand that white supremacist violence demonstrated in the brutal massacre of the victims of the AME church in South Carolina, the burning of Black churches and the police killings of young Black people across this country represents a pillar of an unjust, unequal and unsustainable ideology. It is an ideology reflected in the poisoning of the bodies and the environment of our communities – that views us as expendable labor, inconvenient collateral damage in the quest for profits and obstacles to ravaging the riches of Mother Earth.
Economy simply means management of home. Economy is how we organize relationships in place. This “management of home” can be good or bad, depending on how you do it and to what ends. The purpose of our economy could be turning land, life and labor into property for a few, or returning land, life and labor into a balanced web of stable relationships. Through the Our Power Campaign, we are organizing for a Just Transition to local, living economies that celebrate diversity, equity and the rights of all people and nature.
White supremacy lives everywhere in the U.S., not just the south. To be in solidarity with the people in the south we must challenge white supremacy wherever we are. We must educate our communities and challenge anti-Black sentiment in our homes, our workplaces and all our community institutions.”
We are calling on our members to support the movement for Black lives by signing this pledge, sharing and attending #BlackLivesMatter events that are happening in your region, and support groups such as Black Lives Matter and the Black Youth Project in their fights against state-sanctioned violence.
In solidarity,
CJA Staff
