Hi John, my name is Dejah.

I want to tell you a story about choices — about why we choose to fight, about why we choose to hope in the face of daunting odds, about why we never stop dreaming of a better world.

Looking out the window, I remember seeing homes with red X’s on them, where families had been evicted after the 2008 housing market crash, and I remember watching the exhaustion in the eyes of people getting on the bus at 6am to a job that didn’t treat them with care and respect. And I remember asking my mom – why do people have to live this way?

And I asked that same question each morning I saw my dad (on top of his job as a barber) work a job at Southwest Airlines to get health insurance, putting bags on airplanes and destroying his body each Chicago winter for a job that didn’t give a sh*t about him.

I remember seeing this pain and suffering hit the people I loved and the places I called home, and remember feeling powerless to change it.

It felt like I had a choice: continue feeling helpless and succumb to the powerlessness, or step into my power and do something about the things that made me feel pissed off and angry.

And it wasn’t until I remember seeing these kids with Sunrise roll up to Dianne Feinstein’s office (at a time I didn’t even know I could call my Senator!) demanding a better world, that I knew what choice to make.

I joined Sunrise. And it was in joining Sunrise where I stepped into my power. Being here, I felt a fire and awakening within myself that I never felt before – from marching in the streets with thousands of people my age demanding Detroit “Become the Engine of a Green New Deal,” to going to politicians offices demanding real action on climate.

Sunrise — and honestly the world — has faced a similar experience of powerlessness and power. Sunrise came in hot with the Nancy Pelosi sit-in and we felt our power growing from 10 to 200 hubs. And then fear shocked us and the world when the pandemic hit, and overnight our reality was changed. And even in the last 2 years, we felt a sense of losing power as a movement.

There was a moment when I was afraid all of these challenges would overwhelm us. But they didn’t. We kept fighting.

I saw my friends fight for Build Back Better and federal climate legislation, hunger strike, trek across the country for hundreds of miles, and campaign at politician’s offices and houses. I saw local campaigns across the country rack up historic wins. I saw our generation shut down the Red Wave and expand the Senate majority. And I saw so many lean in to help us dream up the new plan for Sunrise.

But I have to admit: our world is still broken. Climate disasters have increased dramatically. Right wing extremism is on the rise. Roe v. Wade has been overturned. Gun violence is ravaging our communities. Families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.

And we again have a choice – will we crumble, or will we choose to try ? To keep fighting to build the movement across race and class where all feel at home in Sunrise, where we win local Green New Deals across the country for free public transit, clean air and water, good schools, more safe public housing, better lives? A Chicago that I can return to, with better transit, safer, better schools and housing where one day I can raise a family of my own.

Challenges are not going to let up. And neither can we. That’s why I’m asking you to try with me, in the midst of challenges ahead. Help us build enough power to realize the Green New Deal of our wildest dreams. Help us keep hope alive.

John, today we’re launching the next era of Sunrise, and we’ll need you in this with us. Will you sign up for a welcome call to be a part of the next era of Sunrise, fight for a Green New Deal in every state, every city, and keep hope alive? [[link removed]]

Sign up [[link removed]]

In solidarity,

Dejah, Sunrise

P.S. You might be asking: What is the next era of Sunrise? Keep an eye on your inboxes later today for more information on our new movement DNA, programs, and interventions.

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