12 Saturday Aug 2017
Occupy Kansas City – October 30, 2011.
Anti-Trump rally across from City Hall – November 12, 2016.
Anti-Trump rally and march from the Liberty Memorial – January 20, 2017.
January 20, 2017.
Women’s March – Washington Square Park – January 21, 2017.
07 Monday Aug 2017
Posted in Standing Rock
Tags
Bold Nebraska, Keystone XL, Lincoln, march, Nebraska, pipeline, protest
Sunday in Lincoln, Nebraska a broad coalition of native American tribes, environmental groups, landowners and others gathered to protest against the Keystone XL pipeline on the day before the Nebraska Public Service Commission starts a week of hearings on the pipeline.
On the steps of the state capitol.
“Just following instructions”
Before the rally and march:
“No oil in our soil”
Protect the land, water, and climate”
“…before it ends us”
The founder of Bold Nebraska speaking at the rally, flanked by a landowner and leadership of several tribes:
Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska.
Someone was watching.
One of many drones flying over the rally and march. Landing on the capitol grounds.
Apparently one of the many drones flying over and near the march collided with a building. We missed that.
Banners leading the march.
“Water is life”
Flag runners shadowing the march.
Previously:
March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 6, 2017)
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network – March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 7, 2017)
07 Monday Aug 2017
Posted in Standing Rock
Immediately before the rally and march to protest the Keyston XL pipeline yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska the organizers held a press conference and then individual press availabilities. Due to our close proximity, we were able to catch one of those short interviews:
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017.
Reporter: And why do you think a march like this, how much do you think this is going to help the process of the public hearings? How is the public support that is here today going to help?
Joye Braun, Indigenous Environmental Network: I think it’s important for the Public Service Commission to recognize that they do have a large opposition to Keystone XL [pipeline]. And by actually seeing it manifested here is a good way to show to the government of Nebraska that this pipeline is unwanted.
Reporter: And you mentioned that Keystone, or Trans Canada I should say, picks out spots with indigenous people.
Joye Braun: Yes.
Reporter: What facts do you have to support that?
Joye Braun: Well, I come from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. That’s my home. And originally Keystone XL wanted to go straight through my reservation. Another point is, with Dakota Access pipeline, they originally wanted to go just north of Bismarck. They moved it because of the outcry of the non-native population in Bismarck, to just north of Standing Rock. Those are two very recent ways of showing that.
Reporter: Then I’m guessing you had, so you were a protester with the Dakota Access pipeline?
Joye Braun: I am a protector, not a protester. [crosstalk] I’m a protector.
Reporter: Protector, fair enough. And how are these two situations similar and how are they different?
Joye Braun: They’re similar because we’re going up against big oil. Trans Canada or Energy Transfer Partners, which was Dakota Access, is a [inaudible] with Keystone XL. Both of them don’t like safety issues brought up. Both of them don’t like to do environmental impact statements. Both of them do not look at the indigenous populations or other populations that don’t necessarily have access to big lawyers, farmers and ranchers. They don’t have access to big lawyers. So they target these areas to, to, to push their pipeline through. Pipelines leak. We know that. Dakota Access has already leaked twice. And…
Reporter: And, so, you say this does happen. You think it’s just going to leak and ruin a lot of your land as well?
Joye Braun: It will leak a lot of our land. It’s going to leak a lot of Nebraska land as well. Nebraska has the Ogallala Aquifer underneath it. Without that aquifer underneath it the breadbasket of America is not, not going, to be no longer. I mean, what are people going to do when, when they have to pay fifteen dollars for a loaf of bread? I know I, as a family, can’t afford fifteen dollars for a loaf of bread. Can you afford that? I don’t think so.
Reporter: Thank you.
Previously:
March to Give Keystone XL the Boot – Lincoln, Nebraska – August 6, 2017 (August 6, 2017)
06 Sunday Aug 2017
Posted in Standing Rock
Tags
Bold Nebraska, Keystone XL, Lincoln, march, Nebraska, pipeline, protest
Sunday in Lincoln, Nebraska a broad coalition of native American tribes, environmental groups, landowners and others gathered to protest against the Keystone XL pipeline on the day before the Nebraska Public Service Commission starts a week of hearings on the pipeline.
“Water is life”
Bold Nebraska, 350.org and the Sierra Club sponsored a Pipeline Fighter Summit in Lincoln before the march, bringing together groups and individuals from surrounding states to share and discuss strategies in fighting tar sand pipelines. People from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and other states attended the summit and marched in protest.
“Water protector”
Various local news reports stated that anywhere from 500 to 600 or more people attended the rally at the state capitol and marched through downtown Lincoln.
“No KXL”
“Science is real”
“Adrian”
“Pipeline fighter”
“We build”
11 Sunday Jun 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
More images from yesterday’s Anti-Muslim protest and counter-protest in Kansas City:
Counter-protesters.
Exchanging insults and yelling obscenities across the police buffer area.
In the buffer area.
Counter-protesters.
The First Amendment is expensive. And worth it.
Waiting and watching.
Anti-Muslim protesters – yelling from the barricade across the buffer area.
Counter-protesters.
Counter-protesters across Main – “Not this time…”
Previously:
Anti-Muslim protest and counter-protest, Washington Square Park, Kansas City – June 10, 2017 (June 10, 2017)
10 Saturday Jun 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
If you’re going to do anything in a public space you have no expectation of privacy. You’re truly clueless if you believe otherwise, especially so in a world where almost everyone has a smart phone with a camera and instant access to social media.
This morning about forty anti-Muslim protestors set up in a fenced off area in Washington Square Park in Kansas City. Almost a hundred counter-protesters showed up, too. In the over two hours we were there the two groups yelled obscenities and hurled insults at each other, separated by a buffer zone and a considerable presence of Kansas City Police officers.
The anti-Muslim protest was part of nationwide demonstrations apparently organized under the aegis of ACT for America.
The KC Muslim Civic Initiative issued the following statement:
There is an ugly tide of hate rising against American Muslims on June 10, 2017. The march “Against Sharia Law and for Human Rights,” organized by ACT for America is the antithesis of the American democratic values that they claim to uphold.
The title of the march is an oxymoron because sharia law entails human rights. The march’s premise and leaders demonstrate a deep level of misinformation about sharia law, but Muslims are not responsible for clarifying their misinformation.
Such rallies fuel hate and sustain divisions between racial, ethnic and religious communities in the US. The Muslim Civic Initiative (MCI) of Kansas City condemns such rallies that spread hate and misinformation. However, we will not be participating in the counter-protest because we do not want our communities to face offensive messages and further anger and hostility between our communities. Below is our response to this rally organized by ACT for America:
To some of us at MCI, our faith is that of empowering women and upholding justice. The first act of empowering women and protecting children in Islam has been to stop female infanticide. Some dwell on the veil and see it as a symbol of oppression, while practicing Muslims perceive it as a tool of liberation and protection.
American Muslims, like many Muslims around the world, strongly condemn terrorism, and our communities are often the first scarred by violence. Islam is a faith of peace and justice. The majority of American Muslims embody those Islamic and American values in their daily lives. However, with respect to the TSA and FBI, stopping terrorism is not in their hands. It’s up to us to demand from our government to stop aiding military regimes abroad and militarizing their social policies under the guise of humanitarian aid. We call on our allies to unite and bridge the division that is being created at home. We also stand against this division because it enables the exploitation of resources and the severe loss of human life and dignity at all levels in the Muslim world.
It is sad to learn about Brigitte Gabriel’s early life. Instead of choosing to fight the same structural forces that made her experience war and violence in the first place, she beats the war drums of revenge and hatred. Brigitte, we see you and we love you, even if you want to enable killing our communities and feed into the war machine.
We thank our allies for seeing us for who we are, showing up, standing up and relay their message that:
Islamophobia cannot be justified.
Fear will not be manufactured.
Fascism will not be enabled.American Muslims are an integral part that makes this country great. We love this country and love always prevails.
Statement issued by the Muslim Civic Initiative of Kansas City
The Muslim Civic Initiative is a direct action group dedicated to organizing and empowering the 30,000 Muslim Americans in the Kansas City metro area to be civically engaged.
Kansas City area Muslim organizations did not participate in the counter-protest, choosing instead to organize a rally and meal this evening.
What it was all about.
Resist hatred. An animated conversation.
Taunting counter-protesters.
One of at least two drones flying over Washington Square Park.
Counter-protesters.
Addressing counter-protesters.
An earlier speaker at the counter-protest warned the crowd to be aware, as a matter of personal safety, that there were sneaky and tricky individuals around the park taking pictures in the crowd. Seriously? There were a number of people including us and at least one freelancer with still cameras, in a addition to two different television network local affiliate camera crews covering the protests. Not to mention all the people with smart phone cameras taking photos and videos every which way.
The ACLU had a number of observers in the park actively monitoring the protests.
A trio from the Anti-Muslim group walking through the counter-protest area.
A counter-protester.
Facing counter-protesters taunting them across Main.
Ready to react.
During one of several long lulls of activity one of the television network local affiliate reporters engaged us in conversation, inquiring if we had covered any other protests like this with a similar lack of activity.
The counter-protesters (from a number of different groups) didn’t screen entrance to their area of the park, admittedly because there were no barriers to outside access, only yellow tape blocking off the buffer between them and the anti-Muslim protesters. The anti-Muslim protesters’ area was surrounded by barricades. They would not allow us access to their area. Interestingly, a trio of anti-Muslim protesters marched through the counter-protest area with an ACLU observer hovering nearby.
After that display a number of counter-protesters marched around the taped off buffer area across to Main and faced the anti-Muslim group across the street, chanting and exchanging insults. As we were photographing the counter-protesters one and then a number, without any sense of irony, took issue with us doing so. Think about that for a minute. After a testy exchange we walked away. Two hours and over a thousand stills were enough.
10 Wednesday May 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
The office was closed.
Close to sixty individuals showed up outside Representative Vicky Hartzler’s (r) Columbia distict office today to take issue with her support of Trumpcare. Since the office was closed the group lined up facing the traffic on South Providence Road. They spent over an hour and a half doing, holding signs and waving to the passing traffic – which, more often than not, leaned on their horns in support.
There were similar actions today at Representative Hartzler’s (r) district offices in Lebanon and Harrisonville.
Yes, I do this for free…
Vicky voted to make America sick again.
Anti-life, pro-death.
Coward.
No cuts to our care.
Messages left on the district office door:
Closed for meetings…
Vicki – I was here. Where were you [?]
I want the truth
No more billionaire welfare
Time for an independent commission to investigate Russian ties!
We expect town halls. It’s your job to meet us!
Save the ACA!
Vicky, Why do you support an American fascist narcissistic personality disordered DT who wants to emulate + repeat Hitler’s History? You do not represent me!
The First Amendment is an all American thing.
We estimate that the probability of Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) holding an open public town hall in the district anytime soon is zero.
01 Monday May 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
Anti-fascists, gun regulation, guns, militias, missouri, Neo-Nazis, Pikesville Kentucky, protest
Recently, state Rep. Mike Moon (R-157), acting on the principle that if you can gain a few inches you’re a fool not to take a mile, has proposed making locations that prohibit guns on the premises legally liable when/if bad guys shoot at and injure unarmed good guys. As for the inches already taken, last September the Missouri legislature overrode then Governor Nixon’s veto and expanded the the scope of Missouri’s concealed carry law. They also loosened the “castle-doctrine” law to the extent that folks who “feel” threatened can now shoot first and think later. All of which prompted a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial writer to ask whether the outcome would be “more senseless mayhem or a greater sense of personal safety?” Recent events in Pikesville, Kentucky may give us a hint abut the answer to that question.
Given that it’s in Kentucky and that Kentucky is one of those red-states that have a loving relationship with the NRA’s all-or-nothing interpretation of the 2nd amendment, it’s probably a safe bet that many of the inhabitants of Pikesville are all for politicians who promise guns in every pot. It’s also probably a safe bet that some of those gun advocates got a taste of the result of such promises fulfilled this last weekend when the fact that every Tom, Dick, and Hairy yahoo can carry great big guns had townspeople “on edge.”
It seems that a group of Neo-Nazis had selected Pikesville as the site of a unity rally. A group of anti-fascists demonstrators decided to make the scene as well, while, for good measure, some armed militia members showed up, uninvited, to “prevent property damage and guard the town,” ostensibly from both groups. Nor should we fail to note the presence the “handful of neo-Confederates from the League of the South, a racist group that according to the Southern Poverty Law Center still favours Southern secession.” Talk about stirring the pot.
Pikesville citizens and city officials were quite properly upset that their city might be perceived as a stronghold of hate, and they were even more properly worried about the potential for violence, especially since “Kentucky gun laws, which permit the open carry of firearms, would make the protest even more volatile.” Turns out that the event was more mean-spirited high comedy than riot, but the potential was there along with enough guns to have created a blood bath.
There are, of course, those who will want to tell me that the reason nobody was killed is because good guys’ guns canceled out bad guys’ guns. To which I’d ask first off, “what good guys?” Pikesville likely got off easy because of good planning on the part of its leaders and police along with the fecklessness of the protestors. They also just straight-out got lucky.
We can’t count on luck, though, to come through for us in the long term, and, in our divided polity, there’s going to be more and more confrontations of this sort. You can only stir the pot so long before it boils over. It’s just too bad that so many folks jumping into these hot pots are heavy-duty 2nd amendment fanatics.
Of course, we don’t need armed extremist groups taking to the streets to see the damage that the gun culture works in our inner-cities every day, not to mention the lethal edge that guns in the home can lend run-of-the-mill suburban disputes. It is a fact, though, that the potential for damage only gets worse as more guns circulate, legally and illegally, among a racially and politically divided citizenry. In fact, during debate over Missouri’s new, looser gun laws, Democrats pointed out the risk to minorities; as State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-14) observed:
The targets in our area are black boys, not pheasants […] What I don’t want to get to is the point where there is a trigger-happy police officer or bad Samaritan like Zimmerman who says, ‘Black boy in the hood. Skittles. Let’s shoot …
It’s a truism that it’s the violence that involves some permutation of black-on-black or black-on-white that solidifies the conviction of the white gun-hysterics who over-populate the GOP voter base that they need to arm themselves to the teeth. It’s going to be interesting to see how the NRA types spin it if shooting warfare breaks out among well-armed, predominantly white extremist groups like those in Pikesville. And what happens when the inevitable bystanders take a few bullets.
01 Monday May 2017
Posted in Resist, Uncategorized
Tags
#resist, climate change, Kansas City, march, missouri, protest, rally, Terrence Wise
“…my three girls are like, Daddy, where are you going this morning, a climate march? We, we, march, uh, for fifteen and a union. I was like, no baby, we march for justice…”
On Saturday the Climate March for Kansas City took place on the Plaza with a march around the Plaza in the rain and a following rally at Unity Temple. Over a thousand people attended the rally.
Several speakers at the rally addressed climate change.
Terrence Wise.
Terrence Wise’s remarks at the rally:
Terrence Wise: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So I can tell you, uh, I won’t let the weather get me down. It’s easy to wake up and look out the window and see the rain and kind of be down. You know, feel that way. But today I was inspired when I woke up. [voice: “All right.”] I knew I had a, a march to come to, a climate rally is what they want to call it. But I knew I was coming to be a part of a movement. Not a moment, a movement, as this sign right here says. And then I walk in the room and I read the back of your shirt, Manny [Abarca] and I see signs like Our Labor, Our Planet I know I’m in the right place. [cheers, applause] [inaudible]
As Manny stated, my name is Terrence Wise and I’m a McDonald’s worker, a leader in the fight for fifteen. Four years ago I was working two full time jobs in fast food here in Kansas City while my fiancé worked a full time jobs as well as a home health aide. Our family, despite our three incomes, still lost our home here in Kansas City. We found ourselves living out of our purple Dodge minivan. Right out in front of my job, right here close to where we are today. This was the reality for my family. I felt depressed. I was angry. Listen to my three girls, one of whom has asthma, in the back seat of our minivan, sharing a blanket , that was our habitat for the night. No parent should have to go through this. None. To see our belongings piled high in the back of our minivan. Even though I work in the richest nation on Earth, the planet we live on right now, my family has continued to live in poverty. And not only my family, but many families here in Kansas City have endured these conditions.
I’ve worked in fast food for nearly twenty years. But I only make nine dollars an hour as Manny stated. I have no sick days, no vacation, no voice on the job whatsoever, and as a result of these conditions the lives, the conditions, the lives of my children, my fiancé have been on the decline over the years. Not just my family, but workers all across Kansas City have experienced homelessness and struggle to provide the basic necessities for our families. Each month we chose between paying the rent, keeping food on the table, or keeping utilities on. Those are decisions we’re faced to make every day.
I know fast food workers with go with this past winter without working heat, without running water. We work in a two hundred billion dollar industry where companies like McDonald’s make over five billion dollars a year in profits. [voice: “Unbelievable.”] Unbelievable is correct. For CEOs like Steve Easterbrook, the CEO of McDonald’s, is making fourteen million dollars a year, nine thousand dollars an hour, folks. We work hard every day making these companies filthy rich. But our children continue to live in poverty.
The fast food industry wants to perpetuate a myth that I am not a typical fast food worker. They would have the public believe that fast food workers are just teenagers looking for a little extra spending cash. Well, the Washington Post recently reported the average fast food worker is twenty-eight years old. Seventy percent are twenty years or older. And one third of fast food workers are over the age of forty years old. Two thirds of fast food workers are single working mothers. Why should people who work hard every day in the richest nation on Earth wake up and still live in poverty? [applause] Why?
I’ll tell you. Some people might say, and people do ask, they come up, they say, Terrence, why don’t you get a better job? You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, get a better job Terrence. Well, I’m gonna tell you there simply aren’t any other jobs. Low wage jobs like fast food and retail are the fastest growing in America’s economy today. There are sixty-four million Americans who make less than fifteen dollars an hour. It’s why fast food workers like me and my coworkers across Kansas City have been organizing to win a union, have been organizing to win fifteen dollars an hour. [voice: “Yes.”] [applause] That’s the only way to make those bad jobs good jobs. We’re working on it. [applause, cheers]
I just want to let the cat out of the bag. As organizing is a way to make our planet a better planet as well. [cheers, applause] Don’t forget that. Low wage workers in Kansas City and across the country have been organizing for four years now. We’ve gone on strike ten times. We’ve fasted in front of City Hall. We’ve marched and rallied and shared our stories. And spoke out about winning a living wage and a voice on the job. We’ve been in this fight and our allies have been right beside us the whole way. And the labor, faith, and civil rights communities have been on the strike lines with us. And the monsoons like you see today, they’ve been out there with us the hundred degree heat and sometimes in the snow, standing with us.
Our allies in environmental justice community have stood with us as well. The president of the Sierra Club, he stood with fast food workers when we first went on strike. Because he knows when we are united we have the strength to win justice for all. While workers like me live in poverty these billion dollar companies make record profit. But it’s not just the workers that are suffering under these corporate business models. Companies like McDonald’s and WalMart treat our environment no better than they treat their employees. [voice: “All right.”] [applause, cheers]
These same, these same corporations that are leading the global race to the bottom are also engaging in unsustainable practices that harm our planet and waste vital natural resources. McDonald’s, for instance, the second largest employer on the planet, they [inaudible] our environment by clear cutting the rain forest, they do this to keep up with their packaging needs and to grow the palm oil the use to make their famous McDonald’s French fries. They’re clear cutting our rain forests.
On one hand these companies that are fighting to, efforts to decrease [inaudible] and regulate the industry and on the other hand they’re attacking unions and workers across the country. [voice: “Boo.”] And, in a quest for profits above all else the workers and the environment loses. [voice: “That’s right.”] But it’s time we start winning y’all. [voice: “Yeah.”] [cheers, applause] We must unite and fight together as we are today. Because as Dr. King once said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I don’t care [applause] if you’re talking about climate justice, economic justice, racial equality. A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. [applause]
And I can tell you [applause], I can tell you, that line stood out to me because my three girls are like, Daddy, where are you going this morning, a climate march? We, we, march, uh, for fifteen and a union. I was like, no baby, we march for justice. [cheers, applause] Whether it’s climate justice, whether it’s racial justice, whether it’s economic justice. And that’s why we march, baby. [applause, cheers] And that’s why daddy’s going.
‘Cause we must continue to fight together y’all. We must continue to march and rally together to insure that our planet and our community is working for everyone. [voice: “Yeah.”] For real. And we invite you all to come out with us. I can see the flyer in your hand, the yellow one you had, in there, it’s a useful tool. I invite you all to come out with us on Monday, May first for our May Day rally and march. It’ll be at five p.m. at Twelfth and Wyandotte. To fight for the economy that works for us all, ‘cause when we organize and build our strength in numbers y’all we have the power to win climate justice. We have the power to win racial and economic equality as well. But we have to build our strength in numbers. We really do. [applause]
We have a long fight ahead of us. I won’t sugarcoat it, it’s a long fight. We have a long fight ahead of us. I know it won’t be easy. Especially with this administration. For real. And its attacks on working people and science and climate justice, and attacks on Democratic ideals. It will be a long fight. But it’s a fight we need to win. It’s a fight for our future, our country, and our planet. We are stronger together, united we stand y’all.
Thank you for having me. Thank you. [applause, cheers]
We are worth more.
A sign from the march and rally:
Save our planet.
Previously:
Climate March – Kansas City – April 29, 2017 (April 29, 2017)
Climate March – Kansas City – April 29, 2017 – Sergio Moreno (April 30, 2017)
30 Sunday Apr 2017
Posted in Resist
Tags
#resist, climate change, Kansas City, march, missouri, protest, rally, Sergio Moreno
“…You know, people of faith are often also people of prayer. I believe in prayer. I am a person of prayer. And I believe in prayer in a way I am sure you’re familiar with. I believe that we pray for the hungry and then we feed them. That’s how prayer works…”
On Saturday the Climate March for Kansas City took place on the Plaza with a march around the Plaza in the rain and a following rally at Unity Temple. Over a thousand people attended the rally.
Several speakers at the rally addressed climate change.
Sergio Moreno.
Sergio Moreno’s remarks at the rally at Unity Temple:
Sergio Moreno: When I heard earlier today about all of the things that have happened, some of the things, just a few of the things that have happened in the first one hundred days I was with you in that pain, that despair, and also that anger, that anxiety. It’s important to feel these feelings, to be angry, to be upset, and to stand up.
It’s also possible to be, to despair, to feel distress and perhaps even grow indifferent. And that’s when I’m reminded that I am surrounded by people like you. And I’m reminded of the power of music and song and the power of poetry and spoken word and dance [voice: “Yeah.”] and signs and art. Look at those beautiful banners. They’re not just beautiful, they’re powerful. I look at your signs. I want to see your signs again. Let’s see those signs. [applause, cheers]
This, this is the human spirit. And it is the human spirit that creates change for good. It’s the same spirit that creates change for bad. We are the ones who are responsible for the mess we’re in. And we are the ones that can get ourselves out of this mess. [cheers, applause] And this is the same spirit that has informed our faith, our spirituality, our communities for millennia.
From his holiness, Pope Francis, and his holiness, the Dalai Lama, spiritual and religious leaders, all around the world from every faith have raised their voices and have sounded the alarm for climate change. There is no time to waste. The time is now, the time is yesterday. Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, all manner of religious communities have urged their faithful to become involved, to become concerned, to become educated and to take their part in this environmental responsibility that belongs to all of us.
But that’s not enough. It’s a good start. It’s a great start, but it is not enough. It’s not enough until people like you and people like me start taking action. This planet as we’ve heard, as we know for the foreseeable future, is our only home. The earth is what we have in common. We share it. Whether you’re Christian, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, an Atheist, a Humanist, maybe a Pastafarian, it doesn’t matter [laughter], we don’t need to agree on a whole lot to see that we are interconnected. We’ve heard this theme over and over again. Why do we have people representing so many different areas of life? Because it’s all interconnected. We are related. I am because you are. Because what we do here [applause] has an effect on what happens there. We are interconnected.
It’s [unintelligible] to see. And here’s something we don’t hear about enough. We’ve heard about it today, but we don’t hear about it enough. And it should be a great concern to people of all faiths and no faith alike. And it is that the poor of the world are the first to feel the devastating effects of climate change. [voice: “Right.”] There’s no question about it. [applause] The more fortunate, the wealthy, the privileged, people like you and me, we can manage to live and we’ll be fighting. But it is those who are already more than oppressed, more than burdened, who are the first to suffer the consequences of our communal disregard for our environment.
Science has shown this, a very long time. Uh, this is a frightening reality, climate change. There’s no question about it. But what we should also realize is that climate change goes beyond the environment. Beyond clean water, beyond clean air, clean energy, sustainable practices. Climate change has a direct impact on our society. On people, on economic and social issues, on wealth disparity, health, peace, war. It is all interconnected.
Now, today all over our nation, perhaps all over the world, I am not sure, I know that there are thousands of people marching and gathering at rallies across the nation, coming together to make this urgent statement. This is wonderful. Very encouraging. I’m so encouraged. I’m filled with hope and joy to be a part of this movement.
But the real work begins tomorrow. The real work begins as we leave this place. When we go back to our homes, our schools, our work, our communities of faith, our neighborhoods. You know, people of faith are often also people of prayer. I believe in prayer. I am a person of prayer. And I believe in prayer in a way I am sure you’re familiar with. I believe that we pray for the hungry and then we feed them. That’s how prayer works. [applause, cheers] I believe that we pray for the environment and then we take action, we effect change. [cheers, applause] We pray for our government, we pray for our leaders and then we make our voices heard in the ballot box [cheers, applause] with our representatives. With our e-mails, and our phone calls, and our Tweets, and our hashtags. That’s how prayer works.
So, I want to thank you today for the work that you’re engaging in. Not just today, but in the days ahead and the years to come. And I thank you and I hope that you will feel encouraged as you look around and you see all of these people who may not have a whole lot in common with you, but are here for the same purpose. To take care of this place that we share, to take care, ultimately, of one another.
Thank you. [cheers, applause]
A sign from the march and rally:
Sad!
Previously:
Climate March – Kansas City – April 29, 2017 (April 29, 2017)
