Take action to defend Black Lives

Introduction

Trigger Warning: Police violence, racism

Art courtesy of Instagram @shirien.creates

In every corner of this country we have organized, protested, and voted against wanton police violence, against apathy towards hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID-19, and for health care, living wages, education, and for our futures.

In the year after George Floyd’s murder, we’ve seen a national and global uprising in defense of Black lives. We’ve seen different movements — from those mobilizing for economic causes to environmental causes — unite together in solidarity for Black lives. Because at the root of all of the work that we as a community do — whether it’s for the environment, whether it’s for democracy, whether it’s to change a racist system where Black folks are targeted for violence — the unifying thread is this: we must dismantle the systems that exploit people and planet, and a core part of that is the fight for justice every single day.

We simply can never create a green and peaceful future if systems of white supremacy, colonialism, and privilege continue to destroy the environment and strip Black communities of their dignity — and too often, their lives. We at Greenpeace believe that we cannot have a green and peaceful planet without justice—climate justice, economic justice, and racial justice.

Art courtesy of Instagram @shirien.creates

We demand action to confront the racism, police violence, and inequality in this country.

We support the Movement for Black Lives policy platform, which includes a future without jails, detention centers, youth facilities, and prisons. We also support the call for accountability by families of the slain, who are demanding that as long as we are forced to have prisons, police officers who murder should be in them.

We speak out because environmental and racial justice are inextricably linked. #BlackLivesMatter

The following resources have primarily been created by activists, thinkers, leaders, and organizations outside of Greenpeace. Where known, we have given credit to the creator. We have pulled them together here to amplify their voices.

While anti-racism is not the core mission of Greenpeace, it is a core value. We know that the environmental movement cannot achieve full justice for people and the planet without anti-racism work embedded in the core of our mission and in the hearts of our supporters.

The work is far from over. We have a mandate for the people with a clear demand: divest from policing, invest in our communities. Text DEFEND to 90975 and join this movement to defend Black Lives.

Take Action

Your action is needed now more than ever. Here are some ways to join our movement.

Join the Movement For Black Lives
Push for the BREATH ACT with M4BL – This visionary bill divests our taxpayer dollars from brutal and discriminatory policing and invests in a new vision of public safety—a vision that answers the call to defund the police and allows all communities to finally BREATHE free.
Take action with Black-led organizations like Color of Change

Self-Assessment

Racism Scale. www.racismscale.weebly.com

The diagram attempts to illustrate and group examples of Overt White Supremacy (Socially Unacceptable) and Covert White Supremacy (Socially Acceptable).

White Supremacy Diagram, Based on original graphic by Ellen Tuzzolo, courtesy of https://www.uuridgewood.org/white-supremacy-teach-in-ii-december-3-2017/

What to Read

Listen & Watch

#BlackLivesMatter
the next time u wanna say “all lives matter*” understand what the movement is actually about pic.twitter.com/t6PiY32uc7

— jite (@JlTEAGEGE) July 7, 2016