United,
We Rise
This
past week, my attention has been glued to what’s
unfolding in Los Angeles, where Trump has called
in the National Guard and the Marines to
suppress overwhelmingly peaceful protests
against federal raids on immigrant
communities.
I
know I’m not alone in this. These feel like
unprecedented times. Like so many of us, I feel
gutted about what the raids mean for immigrant
families, and what this federal aggression means
for our democracy. I also find myself pondering
what the federal response means for other
rights-based movements, including for the
environmental movement.
The
strands that connect the push for immigrant
rights and environmental rights are many. The
environmental justice movement, for example, has
early roots in the fight for farmworkers rights,
which united the causes of worker and immigrant
justice and drew early attention the health
impacts of pesticide exposure. Immigrant
communities in the United States have long been
the first in line to be exposed to toxic air and
water, and today find themselves on the
frontlines of the climate crisis as well. They
are also on the frontlines of disaster recovery
efforts, including in Los Angeles, where they
comprise a large share of the workforce cleaning
up after the recent wildfires.
The
federal escalation of force in Los Angeles is
meant to stymie resistance, whether over
immigration policies, environmental rollbacks,
or any other number of issues. But so far it
hasn’t managed to silence us. Rather, it is
having the opposite effect, bringing us together
in our conviction to defend the rights of people
and the places we care about, spurring us to
action. Case in point — there are at least 1,800
“No Kings” protests planned across the country
this weekend. In other words, as social movement
expert Dana Fisher said in a recent conversation
with the Journal, we might find that a
“broader sense of collective risk … builds power
and builds capacity.” (See below)
I’d
like to think that’s the direction we’re
headed. |
