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John,
Last weekend, severe floods overwhelmed Jackson, Mississippi’s water treatment facilities. The entire city is still without drinking water—or water to bathe, brush teeth, cook, or more.
Some now have water coming from their taps, which is not clean enough to drink but may help with flushing toilets.
For years, residents of this 80% Black city have paid high water bills for unreliable water access.1 Local leaders have requested state and federal funding for infrastructure, but the primarily white state legislature has withheld federal dollars from Jackson and instead invested in wealthier and whiter suburbs.2
This is clear environmental racism and a violation of people’s basic human rights.
Right now, Cooperation Jackson is requesting donations to support their life-saving mutual aid relief work. Can you help?
Please act in solidarity with Jackson, Mississippi by donating as generously as you can to Cooperation Jackson’s mutual aid efforts, including getting clean water to the city’s most vulnerable residents.
In Michigan, primarily Black cities have experienced water contamination and shutoffs for years, including in Detroit, Flint, and Benton Harbor.
Across the country, decades of government neglect and discrimination have treated Black communities in particular as sacrifice zones, where corporate polluters operate unchecked.
These frontline communities are most in need of climate-resilient infrastructure and investment, but are often denied government resources instead.
I’m fighting for environmental justice and the right to clean water alongside grassroots movements in my community and across the country. That includes strengthening federal funding for frontline communities, pushing for policies like the Environmental Justice for All Act, and pushing back against congressional deals with the fossil fuel industry.
We must invest in the communities that need it most, and that means directly supporting groups on the ground that are already doing critical work.
In Mississippi, Cooperation Jackson has been building sustainable communities and cooperatives for more self-determination and to navigate the climate crisis. The volunteer group created a land trust for permanently affordable housing and community use. Cooperation Jackson has also built networks in Mississippi and Louisiana for mutual support during disasters, which the group is tapping into now to deliver water to Jackson.
Right now, Cooperation Jackson is working to make sure that people in the community who are most vulnerable—including people who are homeless, elderly, or have limited transportation—get the resources they need during this water crisis and beyond.
Please donate generously to Cooperation Jackson’s mutual aid relief efforts on the ground in Jackson, Mississippi.
Let’s keep fighting for everyone’s right to clean water and clean air. We are building a world where we can all thrive.
In service,
Rashida
1 https://www.mississippifreepress.org/jackson-water-crisis-investigation
2 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/03/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis/
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