Racial Justice is Climate Justice

Today we were honored to support WA Youth for Climate Justice in holding their climate strike in Wright Park. We helped organize an amazing cast of speakers to highlight that racial justice is climate justice. The speakers included:

  • Annette Bryan (Puyallup Tribe Council Member)
  • Dakota Case (Puyallup Tribe, Water Warrior)
  • Mariah (Native Daily Network)
  • Alex Coley (New Generation 2.0) 
  • Marquis Mason (Sunrise or CHB)
  • Miriam McBride (Tacoma Action Collective)
  • Beth Doglio (Candidate for WA Legislature)
  • Zuarel Blue (Black Panther Party)
  • Josef Barlow-Farrar (XR Tacoma)
  • Hugo (Tacoma Mutual Aid Collective)
  • Nakanee Monique (Tacoma Protest Daily)
  • Gemma Duggins (Tacoma Science and Math Institute)
  • Steven and Penny (University of Puget Sound)

The youth had over a dozen intersectional demands of our city’s leaders:

  1. Justice for Manuel Ellis
  2. Invest into the community. 
    1. Education
    2. Mental health resources
    3. Community centers
  3. Free all protestors (drop all charges and expunge arrests from records)
  4. Make BIPOC history mandatory and comprehensive.
  5. Pay real rent to indigenous peoples for occupying their land.
  6. Stop the sweeps of houseless encampments.
  7. Stop the Tacoma LNG plant.
  8. Declare a statewide climate emergency. 
  9. Carbon neutral by 2025. 
  10. Honor the treaties with indigenous nations by embodying environmental justice and sovereignty. 
  11. Deny all fossil fuel infrastructure and projects. 
  12. All decisions made by the government are tied to scientific research. 
  13. Defund TPD by 50%

The event ended with a march around Wright Park.