John,

“I can’t breathe” were the last words of George Floyd and Eric Garner. They are the rallying cry of Black and Brown Americans out in the streets struggling in the face of militarized policing and an economy that denies them opportunity. They are also a reminder that we cannot solve the environmental crisis without racial justice. 

Pollution from the dirty-fuel economy lands hardest on Black and Brown and low-income communities. Drinking polluted water, exposure to diesel fumes, and lack of healthy foods leave our neighborhoods sicker. We suffer higher rates of asthma and other chronic health conditions, and it is no accident.

No more. Without environmental justice, Black and Brown people will never be safe and able to thrive in America.

Right now, Dream Corps is fighting for justice for the victims of racist violence and for bipartisan legislation to overhaul policing. But we are also demanding brand new, clean-energy investments into communities that need it the most, so that we emerge from this moment better than before. Can you help by speaking up today?

Act on the environment AND racial justice. Add your name now to help us rebuild America better than before. 

Environmental racism isn’t new for Black and Brown communities. Since the earliest days of the dirty-fuel economy, we suffered the worst of the damage and saw few of the benefits. Very few of us got rich burning fossil fuels—but lots of us got sick breathing dirty air and drinking polluted water.

For America to emerge from this moment of crisis better than before, we need concrete steps that make Black and Brown communities both safe, and able to thrive. Safety means chipping away at the fossil fuel economy that threatens our help. Thriving means making sure the new clean energy economy grows fastest in Black and Brown and low-income communities.

Just look at public transit. Lack of affordable and accessible public transit means more driving and more fossil fuel consumption. It also leaves many in our communities stranded on an island, far away from good jobs and healthy food. New transit investments can help—but not if they reinforce racist patterns of housing segregation, or fuel gentrification. Greater exposure to pollution leaves Black and Brown communities more susceptible to COVID-19 and unless our leaders act, riding transit to work also means potential exposure to the virus. 

In other words, you can’t peel racial, economic and environmental justice apart. 

America’s legacy of racism extends to who breathes clean air and who drinks dirty water—and so our response must, as well. All this is now possible in a moment where change is on the table—in a big way. The only limits are our ability to dream and our willingness to cross racial and partisan lines to deliver solutions.

Help us demand an America better than before. More than 10 years ago, Green For All began with a dream that millions of Black and Brown youth would land in green jobs, not jails. Since then we have continued to imagine and fight for a new green economy—an economy where the people hit first and worst by crisis do not benefit last and least from solutions.

We can't do this alone, we need everyone to stand up to racism, and that work begins with demanding divestments from over-policing and dirty fuels, and investments into Black and Brown communities

-Michelle Romero and the entire Dream Corps Green for All team