Dear Friend,

Happy Saturday! We are grateful for the weekend and grateful every day of the week for our Monthly Sustainers! I'd love to introduce you to Belinda Davis, one of our dedicated Greens in Philadelphia and a historian of movements for social change.

In fact, Belinda is working on a book about the movements that gave rise to the first Green Party to gain national prominence, in West Germany. All while serving as Chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia!

Nationally, Belinda serves on the Green Party US Diversity Committee, is a member of the Green Party National Women's Caucus, and is an advisor to the forming Poor People's Caucus.

From Belinda:

I became involved in the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) soon after I moved to Philadelphia, in 2001. The Green Party is one of my most important communities. I know from my research how important it is to have activist communities that are emotionally nourishing: that is one of the elements that keep people involved over the long haul.

When GPOP recruited later Green Party US Vice Presidential candidate Cheri Honkala to run for office, I began working with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) that Cheri co-founded. I am currently co-editing a collection of interviews, documents, and artistic contributions with PPEHRC members, speaking to the history and future of poor people’s organizing.

Of critical importance to me is the way that the Green Party brings together all the most important issues and demonstrates their connections. Climate change is my first concern. But, as Green principles and policies make clear, climate change cannot be considered divorced from environmental racism, from greed and the polarization of wealth, or from imperialism.

I support the party because, for me, there is no choice about it. We make a difference. Making that difference takes time, effort, and, for better or worse, money.

Thank you, Belinda, for your dedication to frontline communities and for supporting the Green Party as a Monthly Sustainer! We will keep organizing and campaigning to add to the history of movements for progress and justice.

Michael O'Neil
Communications Manager
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org/