The Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition stands in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives organizers and protesters as they fight to bring justice for Black people who have been targeted, terrorized, and murdered by police and the criminal justice system. White supremacy and institutional racism have been ingrained in our nation and state’s history since the first settlers. This institutional racism is reflected in disregard for native sovereignty, exclusionary and racist urban planning and development, regressive tax codes, inadequate public transportation systems, profit-oriented land use policies, and a racist economic system. We must fight on all fronts to bring justice for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and all others who have suffered or lost their lives to police violence and systemic racism. We must remedy the injustices of white supremacy and institutional racism. For organizations that tout intersectional environmentalism; fighting for environmental justice is a responsibility while many are fighting just to stay alive.
We recognize that environmental justice is racial justice and we cannot stay silent as our communities take to the streets demanding change. The forces of oppression that exploit and murder Black and Brown people are the same forces that destroy our environment for economic gain. While no one person is responsible for creating the environment in which institutional racism has thrived; we all must play a role in challenging a system in which oppression of black and brown people and exploitation of the environment are acceptable “business as usual” so these behaviors and trends are no longer acceptable.
As a coalition, we commit to focusing the conversation within our organizations on allyship, solidarity, and support for oppressed people and communities. We will work together to dismantle anti-blackness within Nevada’s environmental movement. We will continue our work to draft a framework for a just transition that centers racial justice.. We commit to actively invite and welcome Black Lives Matter organizers to the table as we create this proposal for radical transformation. We also commit to lift up the voices of and support future proposals from the Movement for Black Lives and Black Nevadan activists.
We all have a role in the fight for our collective liberation. The Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition is committed to following the lead of the Movement for Black Lives and prioritizing the conversation about the impacts greedy environmental policies have on Black lives and futures.
About Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition
The Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition is a coalition of 9 Nevada-based organizations united in the fight for intersectional climate and environmental justice action.
