These are unprecedented times. Our nation is mourning the more than 100,00 dead due to the COVID19 virus. Of those who have contracted the virus, recent studies show brown and Black communities are most likely to die from it. Simultaneously, the Navajo Nation is now facing more deaths per capita from COVID19 than anywhere else in our country. And, in the midst of this pandemic, we are witness to the sheer brutality of Minneapolis police killing a Black man, George Floyd, in broad daylight and the understandable rage and rioting that has followed, which may mean a surge in more COVID19 cases and deaths there.
We at CSE stand in solidarity with our Black, brown, and Native brothers and sisters, and urge everyone to do the same. Here are some additional action steps you can take.
- Join Arm-in-Arm for Climate, which aims to “ignite a transformational era that ends the climate crisis through sustained disruptive humanitarianism centering economic and racial justice;”
- Donate generously to the NAACP and support their #WeAreDoneDying campaign;
- Support Color of Change’s request that you text ‘Floyd’ to 55156 to demand the officers who killed #GeorgeFloyd be charged with murder;
- Donate to the all volunteer, Native-led Navajo & Hopi COVID19 relief.
- Call for justice for George Floyd. The ACLU in Minnesota can tell you how to do so.
- Donate to the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund started by George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd.
- Donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund working with the National Lawyers Guild and Legal Rights Center to help bail out arrested protesters.
- Donate to the Black Visions Collective (BLVC) that “believes in a future where all Black people have autonomy, safety is community-led, and we are in right relationship within our ecosystems.”
- Donate to the North Star Health Collective who are providing street medics and health care providers during protests.
- Donate to Reclaim the Block. “Reclaim the Block began in 2018 and organizes Minneapolis community and city council members to move money from the police department into other areas of the city’s budget that truly promote community health and safety.”
Thank you for your solidarity, activism and generosity. We need it now more than ever.
–Daphne Wysham, Climate Justice Program Director, Anthony Rogers-Wright, CSE Board Member and National Racial/Climate Justice Advocate, the rest of the staff at CSE