Dear John,

The Temp Check has returned! We hope you are reading us by a pool, rocking on a porch, or wherever you find yourself most at peace with yourself and your community. This month, a devastating decision came down from the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS), rooted in injustice and as a part of a conservative tide that so many of us are organizing against nationally and in our communities. Gender justice is intricately linked to climate justice and this is just one simple reminder of it. Those expected to be most harmed by this decision are Black and Brown, low-income women who continue to bear the brunt of the burden of our interlinked economic, racial, social and climate crises. In a system supposedly constructed with checks and balances in mind, the SCOTUS has taken it upon themselves to overturn settled law with no regard for justice. Our elders spent generations battling to secure self-determination and equal protections under the law for our communities, but in less than a year we’ve seen the courts tank a woman’s right to choose, remove Miranda rights, and block residents of Puerto Rico from receiving federal benefits. 

The Supreme Court is also slated this week to deliver another blow to the environmental justice movement by reducing the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate polluting industries. As CJA Co-Executive Director Bineshi Albert recently pointed out, “At the very minimum, one would expect the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions, however now even that is being called into question with an upcoming ruling by the largely Republican influenced Supreme Court that aims to cut this from its purview. Those on the frontlines of the climate crisis fought hard to enact the Clean Air Act and the Clean Power Plan and we can't afford for these to be eroded. Instead of cowering to the oil, coal and gas industries, the Supreme Court should ensure that people's health and well-being is safeguarded and protected, not the profits of big business.” For more information on where the decision stands check out our social media platforms for updates at @CJAOurPower.

This Juneteenth, CJA celebrated Black freedom and remembers the importance of self-determination and power held by so many of those who began the climate and environmental justice movements decades ago. Juneteenth is a celebration of a specific historic moment, in which “Black folks commemorate the day in 1865 when, more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with federal troops to enforce the emancipation of enslaved people in the region.” As this article notes, Juneteenth is both a celebration of joy, beauty, and power of Black people as well as the freedoms for which they and we are still fighting for. You can learn more about Juneteenth and the work of the #CJABlackCaucus here.

We’re excited to share that we have officially begun the Communicating Our Power Fellowship in partnership with Center for Story-based Strategy and the Solutions Project! With fellows from 20 community and base-building organizations throughout the country, we can’t wait to see how their narrative power building unfolds, and expands powerful storytelling in their own words. To learn more about this historic project, read our most recent Medium article here.

After fifteen years and millions of dollars spent by the Los Angeles Metro our member in LA, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and their allies, got the chance to celebrate when the transit agency rejected a planned freeway expansion. Along with destroying hundreds of homes and businesses, the expansion would have increased diesel pollution in areas along the highway – predominantly communities of color. You can learn more about the win here.