Source: M4BL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Movement for Black Lives, Color of Change, The Futures Institute and March for Our Lives, in partnership with the Community Safety Working Group, met with congressional lawmakers to explore policy solutions like The People’s Response Act that will create safer communities for all Americans. 

During the congressional briefing, youth organizers and Black movement leaders from across the country shared stories and presented data in support of a new approach to community safety that prevents harm, responds to crises and stops violence without increasing dependence on policing and prisons. 

Youth activists with March for Our Lives and Students Deserve who are leading powerful violence prevention efforts in their communities discussed new school programs that have already saved countless lives, and urged lawmakers to replicate these solutions nationally. 

“The impact will be hundreds of thousands of young people who were never cared for receiving the nurture that all children deserve,” said Amir Casimir, a youth organizer with Students Deserve. “I remember almost getting expelled for having a barbecue lighter at school. Rather than being threatened with voluntary probation and/or arrest, a young student like myself would be afforded counseling, or intervention, or even just respect or understanding of the circumstance.”

Recent data supports Amir and his peers’ calls for alternative crisis responses. Dr. Cathy Cohen and Dr. Kumar Ramanathan with GenForward Research at the University of Chicago explored findings from the Perspectives on Community Safety from Black America report, which analyzes data from a comprehensive survey of Black Americans on experiences with and perspectives on alternatives to policing and incarceration. The data suggests consistent and robust support for alternatives to policing and incarceration among Black communities in the United States, especially when presented with specific solutions that prioritize mental health and violence prevention. 

To realize their shared vision for community safety, leaders with the Movement for Black Lives called on Congress to advance a federal legislative agenda that would increase federal investments in people and communities, not policing and prisons: the Community Safety Agenda. With landmark legislation including The Mental Health Justice Act, The Break The Cycle of Violence Act, and The People’s Response Act, passing the Community Safety Agenda would be a critical first step to transforming public safety for all. 

“Our communities are not just demanding bold action from their elected officials, we are already developing community-based programs that keep us safe, from 911 alternatives to mental health services,” said Dr. Amara Enyia, Director for Policy and Research at the Movement for Black Lives.” We know that these solutions work, and we know that we can do more to defend Black lives. Congress has an opportunity to make a historic investment in our survival and safety by passing the People’s Response Act.” 

The People’s Response Act is the first BREATHE-inspired bill introduced in Congress that would advance a health-centered approach to public safety. The bill, which would make critical investments in policing alternatives that center violence prevention and mental health, has earned support from more than 70 advocacy organizations and several House Democrats, including Reps. Cori Bush (MO-01), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Katie Porter (CA-47), Lloyd Doggett, Lloyd (TX-37), Valerie Foushee (NC-4), Jonathan Jackson, (IL-1) and Robert Garcia (CA-42). 

“We have to listen to folks who are on the ground and doing the work. We are all that we have all too often,” said Jillian Burford, Policy Organizer with Harriet’s Wildest Dreams. “This funding would be life-changing. It could help us in our schools, churches, and recreation centers. D.C. has a very unique identity of statelessness and would benefit from having the full support of the federal government to keep our folks safe.”

For more information about the Community Safety Agenda, or to schedule interviews with The Movement for Black Lives, please contact m4bl@berlinrosen.com.

Today, the Movement for Black Lives launched the 2024 People’s Response Campaign: Emergencies in Better Hands, a national campaign aimed at advancing public safety solutions that center the needs and experiences of Black communities by treating community safety as a public health issue.  

Through local organizing initiatives such as the Dream Defender’s Healing and Justice Center, federal policy, and voter engagement, the People’s Response Campaign seeks to end a growing epidemic of police violence against Black and Brown people in crisis by establishing non-carceral mental health responses that Black Americans strongly support. 

The Perspectives on Community Safety from Black America report M4BL released in partnership with GenForward at the University of Chicago, which analyzes data from a comprehensive survey of Black Americans on experiences with policing and perspectives on alternatives to policing and incarceration, found consistent and robust support for alternatives to policing and incarceration among Black communities in the United States, especially when presented with specific solutions that prioritize mental health and violence prevention.  

According to the report, nine in 10 Black Americans would call a mental health crisis center instead of the police, if available in their community. Eighty-six percent expressed support for creating a new agency of first responders that specialize in de-escalation and mental health support. Nearly 68 percent of Black Americans support reinvesting part of their community’s police budgets toward crucial areas, such as health care, education, and housing, while 55 percent support reallocating entire police budgets toward such investments.

“For too long, our people have been forced to turn to police for safety during moments of crisis, only for those encounters to become deadly. A system that meets people in need of care with violence is broken and it’s time for something new,” said Celeste Faison, co-Executive Director for the Movement for Black Lives. “The People’s Response Campaign is a critical shift away from overreliance on policing and incarceration toward a new public safety approach that ensures every community feels safe.” 

This campaign is powered by the People’s Response Campaign Fellows, individuals from 20 Black-led organizations across the country who are building local support for alternative public safety solutions, and leading powerful electoral justice efforts in their communities. The Movement for Black Lives will collaborate with each organization to develop campaigns in their municipalities and counties for community-led safety responses that invest in people’s mental health and wellness while creating real solutions for safety away from policing, jails, and prisons. They will also drive support for the People’s Response Act, the first BREATHE-inspired bill introduced in Congress that would advance a health-centered approach to public safety. 

“We have the power to keep ourselves safe,” said Megan Castillo with Black Lives Matter LA. “With this new partnership, we can develop community-led responses that will have a direct impact on Black lives. We look forward to uplifting the aspirations and experiences of our people to build a better future.”

With a pivotal election fast approaching, this campaign will also focus on building the movement’s electoral power by advancing state ballot initiatives aligned with the Vision for Black Lives, and creating voter engagement strategies that will encourage Black voters to make their voices heard at the ballot box. 

“Our communities are energized and inspired to reimagine public safety in every corner of our country,” said Rukia Lumumba, Director of the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project. “This year, we have the opportunity to build on this momentum and demand a people’s response to public safety at the ballot box. Across this nation we have seen alternatives to police that keep us safe. We have seen community-based programs like credible messengers, violence interrupters and community response hotlines save lives, prevent deaths and stop violence. Yet, we see police violence on the rise with cop cities being created in over 50 cities, escalating police violence against students and professors, increased funding for weapons, and decreased funding for hospitals, healthcare and mental health services. Our work at this moment is critical. We must demand an investment in community led and driven public safety services that prevent violence, care for our loved ones and heal our communities. Now is the time to organize in our communities and at the polls for a people’s response to public safety. ” 

For more information on the People’s Response Campaign, or to schedule interviews with The Movement for Black Lives or the campaign fellows, please contact m4bl@berlinrosen.com.

The Movement for Black Lives is a national network of more than 150 leaders and organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn, organize and take action. M4BL includes activists, organizers, academics, lawyers, educators, health workers, artists and more, all unified in a radical vision for Black liberation and working for equity, justice and healing.

We, the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), are heartened that the International Court of Justice declined Israel’s request to throw out South Africa’s genocide case, but today’s ruling does not go far enough. Stopping short of calling for a ceasefire allows Israel to continue its brutal siege of Palestinian territories. Since October 2023, nearly 26,000 Palestinians have been killed. More than 64,000 people have been injured. 

We have joined the rest of the world in calling for an end to Israel’s brutal actions: mass displacement, bombing of hospitals, targeting and killing of journalists, and mass slaughter of children. Though the Court has said it is plausible that Israel’s actions constitute genocide, this moment calls for decisive action to stop Israel’s violence. Indeed, the Israeli security minister has stated that the Court’s decision should not be heeded. This mindset does not bode well for Israel’s commitment to the Court’s mandate. 

Our charge to end militarism and state-sanctioned violence globally calls us to remember that everyone suffers when states strip the vulnerable of their autonomy, dignity, and right to live in safety. We have seen the impact of militarism and imperialism—in Africa, where Western imperialism has fomented conflict and created instability; in Haiti, where it  has undermined sovereignty and decimated infrastructure; and in numerous other places around the world, where Western military hegemony has wreaked havoc and eroded the will and power of the people. We have a responsibility to call out atrocities, as well as condemn militarism and put a stop to the violence it begets. 

Every day that passes means more loss of life and emboldens Israel to continue its settler-colonial ambitions. We call on the International Court of Justice to recognize the gravity of these conditions and deliver a decisive call for a ceasefire and a halt to Israel’s actions when they reconvene in one month. 

We demand that the Biden Administration call for a ceasefire now, and immediately halt the provision of military weapons and aid to Israel. The Biden Administration must push for the release of humanitarian aid and efforts for Palestinians. 

We will continue to lift our voices in solidarity with Palestinians and all oppressed peoples.

The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is a national network of more than 150 leaders and organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn, organize, and take action. M4BL includes activists, organizers, academics, lawyers, educators, health workers, artists, and more, all unified in a radical vision for Black liberation and working for equity, justice, and healing.

The organizations and individuals that make up the Movement for Black Lives Ecosystem express our collective outrage at the persistent racist attacks on Black studies, critical race theory, intersectionality, and queer studies—frameworks for analyzing and explaining the workings of race, class, gender, sexuality, and power in our society. These intellectual projects help students think critically about how society is organized by concrete systems of power while creating direct links to contemporary struggles. These projects strengthen our society by rejecting anti-Blackness and including all of us.

To thwart progress and stir division ahead of a highly contested presidential election, some state officials are waging disinformation campaigns against Advanced Placement African American Studies, a course for high-school students designed by the College Board. Ron DeSantis, presidential hopeful and governor of Florida, refused to approve this course; according to him, it violates Florida’s draconian yet ridiculous “Stop Woke Act,” which bans the teaching of so-called “divisive concepts.”  

As of this spring, 28 states have adopted a so-called “anti-woke” measure that bans the teaching of these frameworks. These measures impact more than 22 million children in public schools and millions more students in public universities. Under these laws, virtually any analysis or explanation of how race, class, gender, sexuality, and power operate in our society can be deemed “divisive” and summarily banned. Crucial ideas are censored or at risk of being censored nationwide. 

Suppression of critical ideas is a historic hallmark of fascism and authoritarianism worldwide. By censoring this knowledge, leaders of the so-called “anti-woke” agenda are advancing a vast and dangerous attack on Black and other social movements that are not limited to banning books and curricula. Rather, they extend into the criminalization of protest; the right-wing capture of judicial and legislative institutions; the entrenchment of forced birth; and the restriction of transgender people’s freedoms, rights, and healthcare access.

Despite saying otherwise, the College Board, a billion-dollar corporation that controls the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and other exclusionary tests, caved to political pressure by erasing or downgrading critical frameworks, including intersectionality, queer studies, and critical race theory.

The relationship between liberatory frameworks like Black studies and a more free society is not abstract. These study areas threaten the status quo because they reveal longstanding myths and lies about U.S. power structures and inspire students to better understand their collective and individual experiences. These frameworks emerged from the lives of oppressed groups and their struggles for freedom and justice in the U.S. and globally. Crucially, they connect the legacy of oppression and resistance to the present. For example, the murder of Emmet Till seven decades ago and the emergence of protests in its wake is directly connected to today’s movement against vigilante and state-sanctioned racialized violence.

Bad-faith actors wage the attack against “wokeness” under the guise of “protecting children.” But by seeking to censor Black studies and critical analysis like queer theory and intersectionality, these right-wing forces have made their intentions clear: They intend to erase and suppress any focus on systemic racism and other forms of oppression, in order to thwart resistance and undermine our collective future.

Previous generations fought hard for Black voices, stories, struggles, and biographies to be written, heard, and made part of the curricula. We will not settle for a watered-down version of Black studies that disadvantages students. We will not cave to the attempts to censor and muzzle ideas and knowledge that are key to our work. Nor will we be silent in the face of authoritarian efforts at thought control designed to undermine our movements for freedom and justice. 

Make some noise on May 3. Our ancestors demand it!

To resist, we call for a National Day of Action against these attacks on May 3. We call for:

1. The reinstatement of the original curriculum by the College Board
2. The resignation of the College Board CEO 
3. A commitment from universities that they will support uncensored Black studies and not endorse AP tests based on censored curricula

You can also participate by:

1. Coordinating an event (e.g., teach-in, banned book reading, town hall convening, rally, etc.) at your school, on your campus, outside, in your public library, or at your community gathering space
2. Coordinating activities at state capitols or state offices where anti-CRT and anti-DEI laws, book banning, anti-trans legislation, voter suppression, anti-abortion laws, and rejection of the AP African American Studies courses have been enacted or are being proposed (for those in the states where no such laws have been enacted or proposed, coordinate activities in support of expanding equity initiatives in your state)

“Black voters elected President Biden to transform public safety, expand voting rights, defend our democracy, and pass sweeping measures to advance racial justice in this country. The last two years have made it clear that our electoral support has earned us nearly nothing in return.

In his remarks, President Biden painted a picture of life in the US that almost entirely ignored what it means to be Black in this country. He touted an improving economy and a subsiding pandemic as indicators that the state of the union is strong when we know that economic growth often happens at the expense of Black low-wage workers. Our system of racial capitalism remains strong. President Biden and his administration have focused more on a war abroad in Ukraine than a war on our people at home. Last month alone, police officers murdered Keenan Anderson, Manuel Esteban Páez Terán, better known as Tortuguita, and Tyre Nichols—whose parents Biden called “courageous, ” while also calling for more “training” and other ineffective reforms that while in place did not prevent the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner or George Floyd.

While Biden touts historic wins for Democrats during the midterm elections, discriminatory voting laws violate our civil rights. He travels the country boasting his bipartisan infrastructure law while these upgrades fail to reach our communities. We fear white supremacist violence daily, asylum seekers are turned away from our borders, our history and ideas are being erased from classroom discussions, anti-LGBTQ sentiments are targeting Black queer communities disproportionately, and we are more vulnerable to criminalization, surveillance, and harm since the fall of Roe – the list goes on.

​With each call for piecemeal reforms that maintain the status quo or stalled progress on his promised policies, Biden strays further from the progressive action our communities demand. How can those promises be realized as he condemns our movement for Black liberation, praises and funnels money to law enforcement, and does little to combat the white supremacist extremism that terrorizes our communities?

We demand President Biden invest in communities and divest from deadly policing, including urging Georgia to halt Cop City and other police projects that take resources away from interventions that grant our communities real safety. We are also demanding he tells the Department of Justice to end the criminalization of protests. This Trump-era policy has significantly impacted those protesting for Black lives and environmental justice – this includes granting amnesty to those arrested due to these reactionary statutes and ordering their immediate release.

President Biden cannot deliver the transformative change that Black people deserve while upholding the racist institutions that enable our oppression, nor can he ask for the support of Black voters while ignoring the violent conditions this country forces them to endure. We demand sustained commitment from our elected leaders at all levels of government, bold solutions that will move us forward, and a better future for our communities, as outlined in our Vision for Black Lives. Now, more than ever, it is essential to remember that the union is only as strong as the state of all its members – for the wellbeing of our communities, we have a long way to go.”

The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is in solidarity with poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised folks in Brazil as they build power to change conditions for their people by not only electing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but also by electing Black movement leaders like Douglas Belchoir and Vilma Reis.

We know that our Black, indigenous, poor, and working-class siblings in Brazil have faced heightened crises and terror under the racist and right wing regime of Bolsonaro. This election is an opportunity to reject authoritarianism, neoliberalism, racism, and patriarchy. It is also an opportunity to amplify demands that call for the healing of the Amazon, respect for the humanity and dignity of every Brazilian, and an end to state violence.

Those of us engaged in the struggle for economic democracy, Black liberation, climate justice and gender justice, see this election as a potentially critical pivot in the global struggle for a free and just world.

​The organizing campaigns and debates underway in Brazil, especially Black, indigenous, working class, landless and feminist groups, has already shifted the balance of power. M4BL understands that our liberation is intertwined with the liberation of Black and oppressed people everywhere, and we commit to the work that is required of us. As with every election, everywhere, in Brazil, we hope for an electoral outcome that affirms the needs of oppressed people, empowers movements for justice, and puts our friends, family and comrades on a better footing to fight for freedom and liberation. The struggles there continue to inspire us in the United States and around the world.

On January 7, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, a passionate skateboarder and amateur photographer, was hospitalized and died after being brutally beaten by five Memphis police officers, who all happened to be Black.

In the last two weeks alone, M4BL has released two responses to police murders of Black people during traffic stops—an indictment of America’s violent, anti-Black and deadly carceral system, which includes police, police unions, prisons, and more. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police tased father and English teacher Keenan Anderson to death. We know the only way to prevent deaths such as Mr. Anderson’s and Mr. Nichol’s is to take power and funding away from police and to reduce contact between Black communities and the police significantly.

In Tyre’s case, the police officers tased, pepper-sprayed, restrained, and violently beat him for three long minutes. This type of violence illustrates how irredeemable an institution policing is, primarily because it is rooted in upholding white supremacy and state-sanctioned violence, no matter the racial or gendered makeup of the officer. Despite attempted reforms—like these in Memphis—police forces cannot diversify or restructure their way into becoming just institutions, and no reform will end the intentional and incessant terrorizing of Black communities. 

​The five police officers have been fired from the Memphis police force and indicted on charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct, and official oppression. While notably more aggressive than other police murders, it is insufficient and won’t bring Tyre back or prevent future police murders.

We’ll continue to say what Black organizers have said for generations. To achieve true justice for Tyre Nichols, Keenan Anderson, and the untold number of Black people whose lives have been stolen by police, we need to defund the police and conduct an overhaul of public safety in the U.S. That overhaul starts with passing legislation inspired by the BREATHE Act—a comprehensive approach to public safety that divests from brutal and discriminatory policing and invests in community-based alternatives. 

Together with the official Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter in support of their coalition partners, Decarcerate Memphis, we demand that the city of Memphis:

• Pass the Data Transparency ordinance;
• End the use of pretextual traffic stops, unmarked cars, and plainclothes officers; 
• Dissolves the Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods (SCORPION) unit, Organized Crime Unit (OCU), and Multi agency Gang Unit (MGU); 
• And ends the use of task forces and removes police from traffic enforcement entirely;

We grieve with Tyre’s family, friends, and the Memphis community. Had those officers not pulled Tyre over, he would be here right now with his four-year-old son, taking photos of sunsets and skateboarding, his passion since he was a child. Yet, even as we try to grieve, support Tyre’s family, and take to the streets to demand justice, accountability, and a new vision of public safety, we know the police are ramping up to criminalize our actions—meeting our calls for justice and accountability with more state violence and suppression. 

You can show support by donating to the official Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter’s bail fund.

It’s up to us to tear down violent, anti-Black systems of oppression and invest in our people. These step-by-step guides, created by the Movement for Black Lives, have the tools to craft community safety policies at the state and local levels. Together, we can keep our communities safe and demand progressive action to end police violence.”

We are heartbroken for Tortuguita and their family, and are once again asking ourselves why our people must be gunned down fighting for change. The police, who claim there is no video of the incident, were the sole witnesses to this killing and have not released the details of Tortuguita’s death. This is unacceptable. We demand justice for Tortuguita and full accountability for those responsible for their death. 

Tortuguita was encamped, fighting against the “Cop City” project, trying to stop the destruction of 85 acres of the Weelaunee forest in the backyard of a Black working-class neighborhood. 

To be clear: robbing a forest from a Black community – which is already disproportionately affected by environmental racism – and replacing it with a militarized police training ground for people that could one day kill them is indefensible. 

Yet despite months of public outcry and community organizing, the Atlanta Police Foundation continues to move forward with this direct threat to Black lives. “Cop City” – an attempt to restore a prison farm – will train police in crowd control and urban warfare techniques, and go so far as to build a “shoot house” where they can practice shooting civilians. In short: “Cop City” will teach police how to be more violent – all in a Black Atlanta neighborhood’s backyard.

Moreover, Governor Kemp has declared a ‘state of emergency’ that threatens to intervene and criminalize us even as we are grieving. Our calls for justice and accountability have only been met with more state violence.

Free the land. Land is tied to our existence, dignity, and the survival of Black communities. Land provides Black communities with nourishment, housing, and healing. As it did for the Muscogee Creek people before they were violently displaced. Colonization caused the climate crisis and climate destruction. As a reparative measure, Black-owned land is a legacy taken in tandem with our stolen labor and hundreds of years of skilled, caring, and successful stewardship. Land determines the destinies of our communities – and our right to access and steward unspoiled, untainted, and restored land sets the conditions for all other access rights. 

“Cop cities” – in Atlanta and elsewhere – have no business existing, especially not in our communities. We deserve community care and healthy environments (as outlined in our Black Climate Mandate), not to have our green spaces demolished and be terrorized by militarized police. For Tortuguita and the entire Southeast Atlanta community, we will continue to support your work in defending our forests and work collectively to stop “Cop cities” everywhere.

Yesterday, nearly 30 years after the signing of the 1994 Crime Bill, which drove mass incarceration, disproportionately impacting Black people and people of color, the House of Representatives and the majority of the Congressional Black Caucus renewed their unfettered allegiance to law enforcement by investing $60 million a year for five years in police departments. This is a significant and sustained investment that will only worsen the damage caused by the Crime Bill. The same legislators who supported failed tough-on-crime policies decades ago are once again awarding grants to institutions that harm communities.

For decades, lawmakers have bolstered the federal budget for policing even though most voters want to see investments in more effective public safety measures like prevention and mental health services. While we commend the House’s decision to block the COPS on the Beat Program Reauthorization and Parity Act, which would have doubled federal funding for police hiring and recruitment, it does not negate the harm caused by passing the Invest to Protect Act. In far too many Black, brown and Indigenous communities, hospitals are closing, schools are losing funding and qualified teachers, and community-wide services that strengthen overall outcomes and wellbeing are limited by lack of resources. The safest communities don’t have the most police, they have the most resources. This multi-million dollar investment in police departments would allow local governments to flood our streets with thousands of new officers, once again giving police the power to intervene on issues they’re not qualified or trained to solve.

While we promote the alternative approaches to incarceration and policing, offered by the Mental Health Justice Act and the Break the Cycle of Violence Act, this legislative package remains Congress’ latest political ploy to throw money at ineffective policies in order to maintain power, overlooking decades of deadly police practices and failed reforms. This is just another effort to grow our nation’s outsized police forces, sustain their oppressive tactics and further traumatize another generation of Black and brown families.

There is no evidence that additional police funding produces safety for anyone, especially as the U.S. leads the world in gun violence, criminalization and incarceration. In fact, police departments have received hundreds of millions of dollars in funding this year alone without any accountability measures. No amount of officer training, body cameras, or so-called accountability measures will bring back the lives taken at the hands of police or prevent those that will be taken in the future.

Our families and communities deserve real pathways to healing and stability, not another 1994 Crime Bill. Congress can end this pattern of police violence by pursuing a comprehensive and evidence-based legislative package that is rooted in community-based strategies for public safety. We ask that Congress pass The People’s Response Act, which delivers the transformational change that our communities have been asking for: significant investments in public health, violence prevention programs, and community infrastructure. These policies would create more opportunities to build safer, thriving communities.

“On January 3rd, a traffic stop became a death sentence for Keenan Darnell Anderson. Instead of giving Keenan the help he needed following a traffic accident, police tased him to death – all while he cried out George Floyd’s name.

Keenan was a devoted father to his six-year-old son, a beloved high school English teacher, a cousin, and a friend. He was just 31 years old when police ended his life.

Within 48 hours of that day, the Los Angeles Police Department also killed 45-year-old Takar Smith and 35-year-old Oscar Sanchez. Their murders continue to underscore the familiar pattern of police violence and lack of accountability that leaves our families and communities devastated and traumatized. While elected officials bashed our efforts to defund the police and upped investments to law enforcement last year, police killings reached their highest record in nearly a decade.

Police will never keep our communities safe. No amount of so-called ‘reforms’ will bring back the lives taken at the hands of police, or prevent those that will be taken in the future. The time is now for a transformation and reimagination of public safety in the U.S.

This work starts with #NoCopsatTrafficStops. Los Angeles must end police stops for minor traffic violations and enact community-based strategies for public safety, including significant investments in public health, violence prevention programs, and community infrastructure.

To the family, friends and students of Keenan Anderson and all those lost at the hands of the police: we are grieving with you, and we are fighting for you. We will not rest until we achieve the transformational change that will bring self-determination, safety and justice to our communities.”

“Congressional leaders have, again, chosen to sacrifice Black communities in order to check a box on the fossil fuel industry’s deregulation checklist. It is appalling that Congressional leaders would attempt to force this vote through while we still mourn the loss of Rep. A. Donald McEachin — a man who dedicated his life to environmental justice for all. This deal shamefully empowers the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the people and principles Rep. McEachin stood for.

Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer should know better than to take this position when the communities they represent have made it clear that this deal favors polluters and profiteers. We are monitoring the situation as the House and Senate consider legislation that includes community rebuked and roundly rejected “permitting reform” language.

We remind our elected leaders to remember those who they actually represent — the people. And we demand that no matter the vehicle, our elected leaders remember their real mandate, and represent Black communities, the poor, rural, urban, and all others who reject regressive speed for poisonous sacrifice zones, today or tomorrow.

The Black Hive at the Movement for Black Lives is a growing collective of over 200 climate and environmental justice organizations and Black leaders. Earlier this year, The Black Hive directed thousands of emails, calls, and tweets to members of Congress to help stop Senator Manchin’s side deal. Now we are re-releasing the toolkit to support movement pressure on Congressional leadership to block Manchin’s toxic deal and protect Black Lives from political gamesmanship.”

President Biden’s pardons are long overdue and come after years of calls for action from Black communities. While it is a victory for survivors, advocates, organizers and communities who have been calling for change, much work remains to address the harms of America’s marijuana policies and broader “war on drugs,” which has been a primary driver of mass criminalization, incarceration, and police violence targeting Black people over the past five decades, devastating families, communities, and generations. 

Today, we call for more action to address the harms of America’s marijuana policies and broader “war on drugs.” Marijuana is already legal in 19 states and decriminalized in 31, and five more states will vote on legalization in November. Now is the time to deschedule marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances and expunge criminal records for all drug-related offenses, which have prevented far too many people from accessing housing, employment and education. These actions must also be extended to undocumented people who under this executive order would still be detained or deported for marijuana possession. We can’t wait any longer to address the harm of policies that have criminalized, incarcerated and violently targeted our communities. 

“While we acknowledge and welcome the sorely-needed relief that many need, we know that the Biden administration can go further by canceling student debt entirely. So many people need and deserve that relief. 

Black students, who are often forced to borrow at higher rates, hold disproportionate debt, reinforcing the racial wealth gap. In fact, white college graduates have over seven times more wealth than Black college graduates. This debt affects creditworthiness and the ability to do things like purchase a home or obtain capital to launch a business.

Canceling student debt would boost GDP, actually grow the economy, and create some relief for Black people struggling with increasing cost of living and other economic challenges.

We demand the Biden Administration go beyond this initial step by canceling all student debt and addressing higher education institutions that have shifted to a tuition-based business model that allows states to divest from public spending on education – thus creating a situation of high tuition financed by student loans. Unfortunately, the consequences of this decision by institutions of higher learning are falling on borrowers.

While the Administration’s announcement will bring relief to some, we know that more can be done to support Black people across the country.”

“The Black Hive @ M4BL is in solidarity with Jackson, Mississippi residents to demand the basic human right to clean water. At this very moment, over 160,000 people in America are struggling to cook, clean, bathe, or even hydrate without running water. How can a state as rich in resources and industry as Mississippi not have running water? We must be clear: the Jackson water infrastructure crisis is a human rights crisis, and it is the direct result of violent and racist infrastructure disinvestment, now further compounded by the climate crisis.

Governor Tate Reeves and the state government’s white power structures have perpetually denied basic infrastructure, investment and human services to the city of Jackson, simply because it is the largest majority Black city in Mississippi. Jackson is yet another casualty of white supremacist neoliberalism, as the federal government has spent the last thirty years shifting away from direct investments in our communities’ public drinking water systems. As a result, localities have been forced to participate in racially exclusive, capitalist lottery systems that increase rates, and shift the burdens to Black communities. 

Decades of racist disinvestment and dereliction in the U.S. South has led to this crisis. The 117th Congress has passed three different bills – the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act – authorizing billions of dollars for water infrastructure upgrades. Yet none of these investments have reached vulnerable communities, and Governor Tate Reeves has repeatedly ignored the root cause of this water crisis and has blocked multiple attempts by Jackson authorities to access these vital funds. State and federal authorities have repeatedly failed to invest in solutions to end this human rights abuse. Jackson residents have faced multiple unsafe water advisories since 2016 due to toxic lead levels, and yet it wasn’t until the collapse of the city’s water infrastructure in 2022 that Jackson’s struggles were finally acknowledged.

Systemic neglect and racist exclusion has placed Black communities, like Jackson, on the frontlines of both the infrastructure and climate crisis. From Flint, Michigan to Lake Chad in Central Africa, to West Baltimore, Maryland, the Black experience reveals that scarcity and conflict are senseless crises manufactured by global divestment in our communities. 

The Black Hive @ M4BL is clear in uplifting these demands. Ultimately, when water becomes both unsafe and unaffordable—it becomes ripe for privatization and profit. We vehemently reject the capitalist disposability of Black lives and the planet. 

The Black Hive @ M4BL in Solidarity with the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition demands: 

• Congress appropriate immediate funds in the amount of $100 million to upgrade to the Jackson water system and ensure that this is done by Black-led community-based organizations in the Jackson area
• Moratorium on ICE patrols that terrorize residents as they pick up water for their daily needs
• Ensure that at least 40% of financial investment and resources are allocated to Jackson residents and community/Black-led organizations
• The federal government must quickly implement disaster response and long- term climate resiliency planning in the most affected communities 
• Establishment and activation of a national emergency water assistance in priority disaster areas, effectively putting an end to the environmentally racist and unjust practices that prioritize private access during emergencies, which denies Black communities any decision-making power or agency
• Critical upgrades that are essential for a functioning drinking water/ wastewater system must come without predatory financing or indebtedness that would further burden the city
• Immediate replacement of all lead pipes and lead paint that is contaminating the water supply in Jackson, MS
• An immediate end to deepwater fracking and drilling, a ban on all new fossil-fuel drilling and fracking, protection of marine habitats, an expansion of marine-protected areas, restoration of vulnerable marine ecosystems, and investment in the protection and repair of fisheries
• Congress amends the Stafford Act to include man-made and climate-related disasters
• Closed loopholes for the commodification and the private prioritization of water, oil, gas production, and aqua ecology that is vital to the environment

The climate crisis is a racist, capitalist, colonial and economic emergency. We must demand  divestment from the extraction, exploitation, and exclusion of Black lives and communities now. We call on the U.S. government to prevent any more losses, damages and death in Jackson, Baltimore and Black communities  across the U.S. Black people are the solution to the climate change crisis that is impacting our communities, homes and lives. The Jackson water crisis and other water crises hurting Black people are yet another example of the need for climate reparations and supporting Black climate and environmental leadership in this urgent fight against climate change.

In Power & Hope

The Black Hive @ M4BL