It is 3am and in a few hours I will be arraigned in West Roxbury Court. I am one of 24 people who was arrested yesterday for standing in the way of the construction of the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline. After years of fighting to keep my young people out of prison, I feel the need to explain why I made a decision to break the law yesterday. There are three key reason that I must explain.
1. I believe that the actions of Spectra energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are a violation of democratic law.
Around the country Spectra is installing new high pressure methane gas lines. They claim that we need them for our energy supply. The Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) is supposed to oversee Spectra, but this agency is funded by the fossil fuel industry and its commission is full of former energy company executives. FERC allowed this project to go through and granted eminent domain to Spectra without dialogue get with the City of Boston. The City is currently working to stop this project in court and to make Spectra submit to the city's permitting process. I fundamentally believe it is wrong for the federal government to allow a project like this to go forward without listening to the needs of the people who are directly affected. If you want to understand more about what FERC is doing, I highly recommend this video. It is about the work Spectra did in New York. (http://www.indiewire.com/2016/03/watch-josh-fox-gets-arrested-in-exclusive-new-short-from-the-anti-fracking-documentarian-crusader-42873/)
2. I feel called to be a bridge builder that helps unite the climate movement into a larger social justice movement.
To stop the worst outcomes of climate change will require a massive global shift in the way we live. Those who will be most directly affected by climate change, already face the injustices of poverty, racism that lead to disparities in health, educational access, food supplies and every basic human need. Those who will suffer the most hated to be at the center of decision making about the road forward. The climate movement is mostly white and mostly middle to upper class and rarely led by those who will suffer the most. This must change not only because it is morally wrong, but because there is no way this movement can work if it does not embrace and support the masses of everyday people who are disconnected from this work. Having been an activist on so many other issues of racial and economic justice, I hope I can play a unique role as a Black woman of faith to help the climate movement to connect with other movements to unite for change on a much more global scale.
3. I hope that my demonstration of commitment will cause the people who know me and love me to also take action.
I have been deeply convicted about the dangers of climate change since 2005 when I watched people suffer and die in the face of Hurricane Katrina. In the last two years my commitment has deepened and if you know me then you have heard me talk about climate change. It is always on my mind. When I walk through my neighborhood I worry about how the elderly will survive in a storm. Yesterday I watched the sunset at Carson Beach with my family and I considered how sad it will be when sea level rise eliminated the Boston shoreline. I look out on Thompson Island and recognize that future school children will not be able to go do the ropes course because it will be under water. We need a mass movement right now to avoid the worst climate impacts and most of the people in my life are struggling to even recycle. I am hoping that putting my own body on the line will help them to wake up and to join this struggle. I don't have enough capacity to do this on my own. I feel like I am pushing a rock up a hill and I need my people's to help me. I am hoping their love for me will make them pay attention. A little more.
It is 9am and I have to walk into the courthouse, but I hope this will awaken awareness in all the people who are wondering why the heck I got arrested on my birthday.
NOTE - A few weeks after our arrest, my friend Karenna, who also got arrested, published this great peice which summarizes the reason for our opposition of the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline. Please take a moment to read it - Why I was arrested in West Roxbury
No comments:
Post a Comment