Robert Shobe, Just Beniteau Campaign just started a petition to Michael Manley, CEO, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles:

Chrysler owes Detroit residents environmental health protections now!

Dear John,

I just started a petition titled "Chrysler owes Detroit residents environmental health protections now!"

Chrysler doesn’t care about Black people. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is expanding in Detroit and has only agreed to commit $8.8 million in “community benefits” for a plant they are receiving a whopping $420 million in public tax abatements to expand. We must be clear about what this means. This multi-billion dollar corporation thinks it’s acceptable to set aside less than 3% of the public funding it is receiving for the benefit of the community, and has failed to outline a comprehensive environmental safety plan for the majority-Black neighborhood that the expansion will impact the most. That’s not right. Now, it is time for Chrysler to step up and work in cooperation with the people of Detroit to negotiate for protections that reflect the real health and environmental risks to Black Detroiters that Chrysler’s expansion has brought with it.

Majority Black Detroit matters. We need environmental health protections today.

We’ve long known that pollution takes its greatest toll on the health of Black communities, who are often left with few resources or recourse. That has never felt clearer than in the middle of a global pandemic, as politicians, corporations, and the healthcare system alike continue to make decisions that mean that Black people are contracting and dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than almost every other group in the country. Chrysler’s leadership, which has managed to find a way to offset increased emissions in its suburban plant, but has failed to provide a clear plan for how it will handle the increase in emissions in a neighborhood that is majority Black, is no exception. A national study links long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality. In the U.S., Black children suffer disproportionately from asthma, and are seven to eight times more likely to die of asthma than white children. Communities of color face nearly 40% more exposure to toxic air pollution than white communities. From Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ to the recently discovered cancer cluster in Houston’s Fifth Ward, we know why mega-companies like Chrysler feel comfortable making decisions that place Black people in close proximity to pollution and other environmental hazards. Chrysler is counting on environmental racism to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. We can’t let them.

Will you sign the petition and forward this email to make sure your voice is heard? Add your name here.

After George Floyd was murdered, Chrysler CEO, Michael Manley, sent an email to employees claiming that he “emphatically rejects the prejudice and hatred” Black Americans still face in this country. But the fact is, Chrysler bears a huge responsibility for the environmental violence, harm, and discrimination against Black people in Detroit, and is still actively profiting from that violence to this day. Residents closest to the plant on Beniteau Street and others across the Eastside of the city, along with Detroit People's Platform have worked hard to bring these critical issues to the attention of local officials and Chrysler leadership with no success. Now, we need your voices to make sure Chrysler knows they must deal with the community in order to benefit from our public tax dollars. Sign our petition today and make sure Chrysler knows they must deal with the real Detroit if they want to keep building in our community.

Corporations like Chrysler think they can put our people's lives at risk with no pushback. Let's show them how wrong they are.

Thank you,

Robert Shobe, Just Beniteau Campaign