Keystone XL Pipeline Permit Canceled

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

There have been so many times we thought the Keystone XL pipeline was stopped, only to see it revived. Yesterday President Biden canceled it’s permit, and I hope that is finally the end of the pipeline. Brings to a close the decade long struggle by thousands of people from many communities who worked in many different ways to stop it. Literally thousands of people.

My intent is to document the long and winding path of my own involvement. To share stories of this work that might be useful in similar circumstances in the future. For ongoing work to stop the Dakota Access and other pipelines now.

President Joe Biden has revoked a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, effectively killing the controversial project and jump-starting what he’s promised will be a seismic shift in U.S. climate policy after four years of inaction under Donald Trump. 

“A cry for survival comes from the planet itself,” Biden said during his inauguration speech. “A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear now.”

Revoking the permit for Keystone XL is part of a broader day-one executive order “to address the climate crisis, create good union jobs, and advance environmental justice,” according to the administration. Those efforts include potentially strengthening fuel economy and emissions standards; directing the Interior Department “to protect our nation’s treasures” by reviewing and possibly reversing Trump’s rollbacks of protected national monuments, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante; and temporarily banning all oil and gas leasing activities in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Biden Cancels Keystone XL Pipeline Permit. The 1,200-mile oil pipeline is one of several Trump environmental policies that President Joe Biden is expected to reverse by Chris D’Angelo, Huffpost, 1/20/2021

Nationwide resistance to TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline began when the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), CREDO, and The Other 98% developed the Keystone Pledge of Resistance, March 6, 2013.  This movement to stop the pipeline began by creating a website where opponents of the pipeline could sign the Pledge. Over 97,000 people signed.

“I pledge, if necessary, to join others in my community, and engage in acts of dignified, peaceful civil disobedience that could result in my arrest in order to send the message to President Obama and his administration that they must reject the Keystone XL pipeline.”

The Keystone Pledge of Resistance used the threat of nationwide civil disobedience direct actions in an attempt to persuade President Obama to deny the Keystone pipeline permit.

Planning and training are required for a successful direct action. I was fortunate to be trained by Todd Zimmer and Gabe from the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) in Des Moines the summer of 2013, as part of the national Keystone Pledge of Resistance. RAN went to 25 cities in the U.S. that summer to train local leaders to (1) plan the direct action in their city and (2) teach them how to train others in their area. That resulted in about 400 Action Leaders being trained, who in turn trained nearly 4,000 local activists. If the action was triggered, nonviolent direct actions would unfold in at least 25 cities in the country simultaneously.

I worked with other Action Leaders in Indianapolis, where I lived at the time. The training involved learning how to design a nonviolent direct action, and how to train local people about nonviolent civil disobedience, roles (media, police liaison, etc), and legal matters. We held five training sessions attended by about sixty people.

Many local events were held to raise public awareness about the environmental dangers posed by tar sands and the pipelines that transport that.

Anyone who wanted to participate in the Keystone Resistance was required to sign a statement saying they would abide by the following nonviolence guidelines:

Non-Violence Guidelines and Principles
1. With the recognition that history is on our side in the fight against the fossil fuel industry, that we are a part of the proud and successful tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience, and that our actions also reflect on tens of thousands of others standing together across the country, we will conduct our behavior in only the most peaceful and dignified manner.
2. We are each firmly committed to the safety of all participants and the surrounding community, and will not bring with us any weapons, drugs or alcohol, or participate in any acts of vandalism or destruction of property.
3. We will work to protect everyone around us from insult or attack, including those who may oppose or disagree with us.
4. We will remember that irresponsible actions could endanger others, or lead to the arrest of people who do not want to go to jail, and will not use threatening language or threatening motions toward anyone.
5. We will act and communicate in a manner of openness, friendliness and respect toward everyone we encounter, including police officers and members of the community at large.
6. As members of this action, we will follow the directions of the designated organizers.
7. If an individual has a serious disagreement with the organizers of the action, the individual will withdraw from the action.
8. If an individual does not respect these guidelines and principles, that individual can not participate in an action as part of the Pledge of Resistance to the Keystone XL pipeline

The training involved a Saturday of being taught how to organize direct actions, and how to train others. The next day, we, as students, became the teachers.  We practiced providing the same training we would be doing when we returned home. The participants training guide can be found here:  https://1drv.ms/w/s!Avb9bFhezZpPhPZwoFHONmVV69trwA

Training involved acquiring a thorough knowledge of the issues. This is important for when you will engage the public and the media about what you are trying to accomplish.  The principles of nonviolence are discussed.  Participants engage in role playing exercises that are used to learn how to remain nonviolent in the face of abuse, and techniques to de-escalate such situations.

One project my friends Derek Glass, Andrew Burger and I did to raise awareness about Keystone was to create this video.

Following is a letter published in the Indianapolis Star, May 7, 2014. Senator Donnelly said he supported the Keystone pipeline because of the jobs that would be created. TransCanada said the pipeline would create less than fifty permanent jobs. After this letter to the editor was published, he stopped talking about jobs.

Joe Donnelly’s Keystone pipeline vote disregards dirty results

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Sen. Joe Donnelly spoke during the event. (Photo: Rob Goebel/The Star )

I am disappointed that Sen. Joe Donnelly has joined Senate Republicans to try to force a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline. This is an executive branch decision and not that of Congress. The senator’s press release says he supports Keystone because of the jobs, when even TransCanada admits the pipeline will produce fewer than 100 permanent jobs. He also repeats the “all-in” approach to the future of energy, disregarding the tons of pollution and resulting health damage that will occur from continuing to burn fossil fuels.

Jeff Kisling
Indianapolis
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/1kYJOZT

This video was taken at a gathering of water protectors who had been working together in Indianapolis for about a year, in solidarity with those at Standing Rock. We were gathered on the grounds of the Indiana state capitol this cold day in March, 2017.

My friend Brandi Herron speaks about the many things we are grateful for.

Then I tell the story of how I became concerned about our environment at a young age, and the story of the Keystone Pledge of Resistance.

Keystone, President Obama and I

I’m not sure it was a good idea now, but at the time I wondered if a hand written letter might have a better chance of being noticed by those in the administration who answered such letters.

DSC00500
DSC00501
BarackKeystone
Promise to Protect (nokxlpromise.org)

One of Trump’s first moves as President was to reverse the Obama/Biden Administration’s decision to reject Keystone XL. In response, we launched the Promise to Protect in 2017 and together we’ve successfully stopped Keystone XL from being built. While campaigning, Joe Biden promised to rescind the KXL permits to stop this pipeline once and for all. But right now, TC Energy is doing everything they can to move construction forward.

We must keep up the fight to hold Biden to his word, and be ready to mobilize. As with Dakota Access, we know fossil fuel companies like TC Energy will stop at nothing to try and finish their black snake. This video shows our movement’s commitment to protecting our communities, our water and our climate. We need your support now more than ever.

At Friends Committee on National Legislation

Free, prior and informed consent is required for construction of Keystone XL pipeline

Meditation on Keystone by my friend Jim Poyser.

In truth, all we have is this moment here to pause and reflect.
Our current approach to living on this planet is unsustainable.
We have more similarities than differences.
We can do anything if we put our minds and shoulders to it.
Pick a cause and pour yourself into it, whether it’s Keystone or retiring coal plants or getting kids out into nature.
Pick a cause and kiss it, give it your love, your whole being.
Who knows, these could be the best years of our lives.

Meditation on Keystone (sway.com)

In a Newsweek article last year, Michael Foster wrote about “why I turned off the Keystone pipeline and face 21 years in jail.”

My friend and fellow Keystone Pledge of Resistance Action Leader, Jim Poyser, mentioned that Michael was a friend of his, and would probably appreciate letters while he is serving his prison sentence (3 years with 2 deferred).

FROM: Michael Foster

Jeff,
Thank you for reaching out to me. Any friend of Jim Poyser is partly nuts and OK by me! We all share a common pursuit, working with youth and the outdoors. You can pick up bits of my story in the NYT Magazine and in Seattle Met magazine last summer, so I won’t bore you.
One thing you wrote, “I fear we have damaged Mother Earth beyond repair,” touches on why I devoted myself to this emergency at this moment. Reading James Hansen’s research on “Avoiding Danger Climate Change: Required Reductions in Carbon Emissions to Protect Yong People, Future Generations and Nature” I realized this is the last moment when returning a stable planet to our children might yet be physically possible, and nobody seems interested in how quickly we must drop pollution. After this time, the efforts we make to restore health, bold and drastic, even revolutionary, will only matter for a little while, like hospice care for parents before they go, so important yet a return to life is not an option anymore.
What we do now, today, either slams the door shut against our own kids and most life forms on Earth, or turns off the gas in this chamber we share, and leaves the door open a crack, just enough that this place might start to cool down in another 30 years or more. But today we decide whether future Earth has life. Tomorrow, not so much.
11 % cuts in pollution each year PLUS 1 trillion new trees EQUALS an outside chance our kids get to raise kids.
Nobody speaks of this is media or leadership or policy. If we delay until 2015 to begin, a mere 7 years:
25% cuts in pollution each year PLUS more than1.5 trillion trees just to do the same thing. Get back to 350 ppm CO2 in the air near 2100.
Massive global cuts don’t happen if we think and live as “consumers”, but OK then. As you discovered living car-free, life without opens doors you can’t purchase on a Tesla. As opposed to annoying, inconvenient, incremental change, dramatic about-face changes turn around everything so quickly, shedding dull routines and thinking promises mere adventure in life, and our pace quickens.
Is it possible for humans to leave a healthy planet for youth? Only today, not tomorrow.
That does it for me! If I am lucky enough to live in this moment when life goes forward or not at all because of my/our waste, then I can only remain human if I refuse to destroy everything I love. I am accountable.
Your letter got me all worked up, ready to preach, something I’ve enjoyed doing as a guest in pulpits since shutting down Keystone 1. Maybe when I get released, we can cook up some tasty plans for youth seeking justice.
Thank you for writing. I’m doing great, more relaxed, smaller footprint, well-fed (vegan diet), and for the moment, on the right side of history.
Michael

Discussions about fossil fuel pipelines must include the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). I didn’t know much about this until I was walking along the route of the Dakota Access pipeline, September, 2018.

Men in the ‘man camps’ of construction workers took and/or murder Indigenous women. The route of pipelines commonly come near native communities, which relates to environmental racism. The route of the Dakota Access pipeline was changed when the people of Bismarck, North Dakota, objected to the original route of the pipeline just north of the city, fearing oil leaks would contaminate their water. So the pipeline route was moved, bringing it just upstream to the water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

During the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, I learned one of my new friends had lost a member of his family.

The Billings Gazette published an amazing collection of photos from the Line the Rim event May 5, 2019, where hundreds gathered along the edge of the Billings Rimrocks to honor missing and murdered indigenous people. 

At Senator Grassley’s office

This photo was taken when we had a discussion with Senator Grassley’s staff in November, 2018, about two bills in the US Congress related to missing and murdered indigenous women.

The following diagram shows relationships among the issues that are discussed above.

  • How white settler colonization is built on capitalism.
  • The capitalist economic system was dependent on fossil fuel energy.
  • Burning fossil fuels have driven global environmental chaos.
  • The pandemic has broken economic and political systems.
  • The epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is related to the pipeline ‘man camps’.
  • Spirituality is key to a way forward.
  • Indigenous culture and practices, a regenerative economy can use Mutual Aid to build thriving communities.

Posted in #NDAPL, Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR), civil disobedience, climate change, Dakota Access Pipeline, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Indigenous, Keystone Pledge of Resistance, Keystone XL pipeline (KXL), Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Martin Luther King, Abolition and Mutual Aid

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

Abolition of the police is a relatively new concept to me, as a white male. One of the most significant and impactful parts of white privilege is related to safety and law enforcement. It is one thing to read the statistics and reports about race and policing. It was totally different, shocking to see the trauma this causes for people you are beginning to know. As happened to me during community discussions a the Kheprw Institute (KI) in Indianapolis. To see a black mother break down in tears as she talked about how terrified she was every minute her children were away from home. To see that every person of color in the room knew exactly what she was speaking about.

I began to learn about the slave patrols.

There was no place to hide, no place to truly be safe. Across the U.S., black Americans lived in fear of law enforcement officials armed with weapons who monitored their every behavior, attacked them on the street and in their homes, and killed them for the slightest alleged provocation. 

These organized groups of white men known as slave patrols lay at the roots of the nation’s law enforcement excesses, historians say, helping launch centuries of violent and racist behavior toward black Americans, as well as a tradition of protests and uprisings against police brutality.

That history has once again become the subject of national debate as millions of Americans in recent days gathered in cities large and small to denounce police brutality and racial bias after the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis, at the hands of a police officer after allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. 

Not just George Floyd: Police departments have 400-year history of racism by Wenei Philimon, USA TODAY, June 7, 2020

Activist and prison-industrial complex abolitionist Mariame Kaba celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by praising NU Community Not Cops and speaking to the importance of mutual aid and political organizing in Wednesday’s MLK Dream Week virtual keynote.

“Abolitionists have a lot to learn from Dr. King,” Kaba said. “If King were alive today… I have no doubt that what he would be addressing in our current historical moment is the violence and destruction of the prison-industrial complex.”

The prison-industrial complex abolition movement hinges on two key principles, Kaba explained: the belief that police perpetuate — not mitigate — harm and the practice of mutual aid. 

Mutual aid — or the extension of community-based assistance, services, funds and care with no requirements or expectations of the recipients — was a core tenant of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, she said. In order to provide boycotters a viable transportation alternative, the community coalesced to create an elaborate rideshare system and provide parking, funds and other forms of support. 

King also frequently spoke out against police brutality, Kaba said, adding that King was jailed 29 times during his lifetime for civil disobedience and related infractions. 

In her work, Kaba has focused on ending the racialized and gender-based institutions of violence, maintained by policing, prisons and surveillance. 

However, Kaba emphasized, prison abolition is more than just the dissolution of what she calls “death-making institutions.” A crucial piece is rebuilding a system that celebrates the flipside — “life-giving institutions,” or systems that offer support, accountability and care to communities. 

“I’m a (prison-industrial complex) abolitionist really, in its simplest terms, because I want to dismantle a system predicated on premature death,” Kaba said. “And build one instead focused on life and true safety.”

Activist Mariame Kaba talks abolition and mutual aid, condemns campus police in Dream Week keynote by Binah Schatsky, The Daily Northwestern, January 13, 2021

Policing, rather than a modern civilized institution committed to law and order and evolving over time… has been exposed as an ongoing settler-colonial project, organized through terror, violence and control

Mariame Kaba

My friend Ronnie James delivered a speech at a Black Lives Matter teach in, August 22, 2020. He has been mentoring me as I learn and participate in Des Moines Mutual Aid’s work. Ronnie is an Indigenous activist and organizer with more than 20 years of experience.

Historically, the police and other law enforcement were formed to protect the interests and property of the moneyed classes from the rest of the People. This “property” included the bodies of the enslaved, and was the justification for brutally repressing the righteous and inevitable revolts born from the atrocity of slavery. This same philosophy of endless possession was the bloodlust that fueled the “Indian Wars” and the theft of Indigenous land and bodies that continues to this day. (Wampanoag, 2020)

Today, this same war of conquest, the repression of the many for the benefit of the few, continues. 

Currently, Des Moines Mutual Aid and it’s many accomplices have been fighting a battle with the city of des moines and it’s foot soldiers trying to repress our houseless population from utilizing unused “property”. The basic universal need of a place to rest and be safe is trumped by the need of the wealthy, and the wannabe wealthy, to control every inch they can possess. It is a war for control, and the pigs have enlisted willingly.

This same war of conquest is currently using the mass incarceration machine to instill fear in the populace, warehouse cheap labor, and destabilize communities that dare to defy a system that would rather see you dead than noncompliant. This is the same war where it’s soldiers will kill a black or brown body, basically instinctively, because our very existence reminds them of all that they have stolen and the possibility of a revolution that can create a new world where conquest is a shameful memory.

The police state and why we must resist. Ronnie James

What we have is each other. We can and need to take care of each other. We may have limited power on the political stage, a stage they built, but we have the power of numbers.

Those numbers represent unlimited amounts of talents and skills each community can utilize to replace the systems that fail us.  The recent past shows us that mutual aid is not only a tool of survival, but also a tool of revolution. The more we take care of each other, the less they can fracture a community with their ways of war. Organized groups like The American Indian Movement and the Black Panther Party for Self Defense showed that we can build not only aggressive security forces for our communities, but they also built many programs that directly responded to the general wellbeing of their communities. This tradition began long before them and continues to this day. Look into the Zapatistas in Southern so-called Mexico for a current and effective example.

These people’s security forces, or the “policing of the police” not only helps to minimize the abuse and trauma they can inflict on us, but it begins to shift the power balance from them to us.

Mutual Aid programs that help our most marginalized or other events that work to maintain our spirits result in stronger communities. A strong community is less vulnerable to police intrusion. 99% of our conflicts can be solved by those affected by them, but only with the support of those around them. Anytime we call on the police to mediate our problems, we are risking ourselves or a loved one from being hurt or worse.

The more we replace the police with organized community response to conflict, the safer we will be. Another powerful benefit is the removal of power from those that take their orders from those that have no interest in your well being, at least past it being useful to amass and increase wealth.

Many communities work to train amongst themselves mental and physical health workers, conflict mediators, and anything else we need, despite the state and it’s soldiers insistence that they are the sole “authority” of these skills, and always with the implied threat of violence.

As we work toward this, and this summer has proven des moines has the heart, desire, and skills to do so, we still have to deal with what’s in front of us.

We each have skills and resources we can utilize towards the abolition project. Some of us can use the halls of the system to make short term change there, others have skills that produce food, provide medical care, or care for our precious youth, some are skilled in the more confrontational tactics needed. Once we envision that world our ancestors want for us, finding our role is natural.

If we are to survive, and more importantly, thrive, we know what we will have to do.

All Power To The People.

The police state and why we must resist. Ronnie James

If King were alive today… I have no doubt that what he would be addressing in our current historical moment is the violence and destruction of the prison-industrial complex

Mariame Kaba

Des Moines Black Lives Matter/ Black Liberation
https://www.facebook.com/desmoinesblm

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Des Moines Black Lives Matter

January 11 at 9:18 AM  · The Iowa Legislature returns today for a new session. These are our demands.
 #ialegis #BlackEmergencyIA

Image may contain: text that says 'lowa BLM Statewide Codlition LEGISLATIVE DEMANDS .Legalize cannabis and expunge records REPEAL lowa Code 80F lowa Peace Officers Bill of Rights REPEAL SF481 Requires police to collaborate with ICE REPEAL lowa Code 904.808 Requires state to purchase from lowa Prison Industries Legislation to promote Black maternal & infant health Constitutiona amendment to protect voting rights of lowans who have been convicted of a felony SPONSORS Des Moines Black Liberation Movement Advocates for Social Justice Ames BLM Cedar Valley BLM lowa Freedom Riders'

Des Moines Black Lives Matter

Posted in abolition, Black Lives, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Des Moines Mutual Aid, enslavement, Kheprw Institute, Mutual Aid, race, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

The major threat of Martin Luther King Jr to us is a spiritual and moral one

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

It is sobering to see how little progress this country has made related to Martin Luther King’s three evils of society: racism, militarism and materialism.

This fall Des Moines Black Lives Matter/Black Liberation declared a black state of emergency in Iowa. And recently issued a travel warning:

Image may contain: text that says '1 #BlackEmergencylA We declare lowa a sundown state. It is not safe for Black residents to travel alone, especially at night. Recommendations for Black lowans: Do your best to travel in parties of two or more. Always tell somebody where you are going and when you plan to return. Be prepared to escape, hide, or defend yourself in a worst-case scenario.'

DSM COMMUNITY SAFETY HOTLINE: 515.850.2395

Armed protests are being planned at the Iowa State Capitol from Jan 17-20. We are asking the public to distance themselves from known MAGA and far-right supporters. Travel in parties of 2 or more when possible. #BlackEmergencyIA

Image may contain: text that says 'DSM COMMUNITY SAFETY HOTLINE ACTIVE JAN 16-27 515.850.2395 Call or Text if you need: Travel assistance Assistance with food or other basic necessities Tips on white supremacist activity DSM DSM STREET MEDICS BLM COLLECTIVE DES MOINES MUTUAL AID BAIL FUND email dsmmediccorps to volunteer'

The major threat of Martin Luther King Jr to us is a spiritual and moral one. King’s courageous and compassionate example shatters the dominant neoliberal soul-craft of smartness, money and bombs. His grand fight against poverty, militarism, materialism and racism undercuts the superficial lip service and pretentious posturing of so-called progressives as well as the candid contempt and proud prejudices of genuine reactionaries. King was neither perfect nor pure in his prophetic witness – but he was the real thing in sharp contrast to the market-driven semblances and simulacra of our day.

Martin Luther King Jr turned away from popularity in his quest for spiritual and moral greatness – a greatness measured by what he was willing to give up and sacrifice due to his deep love of everyday people, especially vulnerable and precious black people. Neoliberal soul craft avoids risk and evades the cost of prophetic witness, even as it poses as “progressive”.

If King were alive today, his words and witness against drone strikes, invasions, occupations, police murders, caste in Asia, Roma oppression in Europe, as well as capitalist wealth inequality and poverty, would threaten most of those who now sing his praises.

Today, 50 years later the US imperial meltdown deepens. And King’s radical legacy remains primarily among the awakening youth and militant citizens who choose to be extremists of love, justice, courage and freedom, even if our chances to win are that of a snowball in hell! This kind of unstoppable King-like extremism is a threat to every status quo!

Martin Luther King Jr was a radical. We must not sterilize his legacy
Cornel West, The Guardian, April 4, 2018

I have been blessed to have found “awakening youth and militant citizens who choose to be extremists of love, justice, courage and freedom.” Who are a threat to every status quo! I’ve spent the past year learning from, and participating in some of the work of Des Moines Mutual Aid (DMMA). And am learning about the work of Des Moines Black Lives Matter/Black Liberation.

For years I tried to find how to build the Beloved communities Martin Luther King, Jr, spoke about. I finally found that in the work of Mutual Aid. As my friend Ronnie James says:

I’m of the firm opinion that a system that was built by stolen bodies on stolen land for the benefit of a few is a system that is not repairable. It is operating as designed, and small changes (which are the result of huge efforts) to lessen the blow on those it was not designed for are merely half measures that can’t ever fully succeed.

So the question is now, where do we go from here? Do we continue to make incremental changes while the wealthy hoard more wealth and the climate crisis deepens, or do we do something drastic that has never been done before? Can we envision and create a world where a class war from above isn’t a reality anymore?”

Ronnie James

So I work with a dope crew called Des Moines Mutual Aid, and on Saturday mornings we do a food giveaway program that was started by the Panthers as their free breakfast program and has carried on to this day. Anyways, brag, brag, blah, blah.

So I get to work and I need to call my boss, who is also a very good old friend, because there is network issues. He remembers and asks about the food giveaway which is cool and I tell him blah blah it went really well. And then he’s like, “hey, if no one tells you, I’m very proud of what you do for the community” and I’m like “hold on hold on. Just realize that everything I do is to further the replacing of the state and destroying western civilization and any remnants of it for future generations.” He says “I know and love that. Carry on.”

Ronnie James
Posted in Black Lives, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Legacy of Leadership. Oceti Sakowin Water Protector Camp

Posted on January 17, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

The following beautiful video is from Chase Iron Eyes’ #NoDAPL Trial Archive.
A Legacy of Leadership. Oceti Sakowin Water Protector Camp. At the end of this article is a petition you can sign to tell president-elect Joe Biden to stop DAPL once and for all and keep his promise to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL).

Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez  [May 16, 2019, Washington DC.  D-NY  14th District]

I would not be here today if it wasn’t for Oceti Sakowin If it wasn’t for Standing Rock. That was a point of spiritual transformation for me. And the closer our car started getting to Oceti it felt like we were nails and like it was a magnet, it felt like that it felt magnetic. And it was in a way a homecoming. It felt like in part like a spiritual homecoming as well.

Julian Bear Runner [Nov. 15, 2018]

There was so much good. Like every day that we were there at the camp. People singing, people praying, people laughing, kids playing, birds chirping. I mean, it was just a great environment, and it was so good that every day felt the same.

Deb Haaland [Dec 13, 2018. New Mexico. D-NM 1st District]

I was happy to be at Standing Rock. It was September of 2016. i happen to know the sister of chairman Archambault and so i was able to connect with her and feel like i was a part of things. I felt that it was important for me to go there and take that stand with them. And let them know that they weren’t alone. That they were doing what a lot of us could relate to for a long time. Right? We have our own sacred land that’s under attack here in New Mexico. And I feel like when, you know, when we all rise up and we come together on those things that get, you know, we share the strength.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

And to be in that camp and to see people who came and had the intention of coming for just a few days then go back home, sell their car, sell all their worldly possessions just to be there. When i heard these stories of people doing this, i was like this is crazy. But then when i got there i couldn’t think of any more important place to be. I couldn’t think of any more important way or thing to contribute to. And i think that that is that is not only inside all of us but that is that is growing. The urgency of that feeling is growing and while I always cared about things before, while I always organized around things before I was at camp. And one of the things that was very transformative was just the generosity with space with the taking in I didn’t have to prove myself i didn’t have to be anything. What made that transformative was that while i was always willing to give, it wasn’t until i was ready to give everything that then these opportunities start to present themselves.  

Deb Haaland

You know there’s so many issues that Native Americans have suffered through that that we could all probably find a reason to get out and protest to make things right.  

And i feel like that that stand sort of helped native people to understand that we do have common interests.  We do care about each other. We should stand together on these issues and fight for what’s right.

Julian Bear Runner

So i need to go home.  I need to seek a leadership position. I need to do my part to prepare my people, to strengthen my people, to help them to stand up, to help.  There’s so much things that need to be done. We need to prepare, we need to strengthen ourselves, we need to unite ourselves.  We need to we need to pray.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

This is about changing ourselves and people would think that that is hopeless but you all created a space where tens of thousands of people were able to change themselves. And so that it is first and foremost a spiritual battle, a spiritual transformation that is in front of us. And that is the problem, why so much of this has been ignored and this climate and environmental battle has been failing for so long. Because it’s been so reliant on JUST science, facts, figures. This is the empirical argument for change. We need that empirical argument for change. We need all of those things but that is not what moves people. What moves people is to see themselves improved and transformed as we improve and transform our ways.

Julian Bear Runner

I never thought there would be a day that we as people had to stand up against a pipeline. But we have a life to live. We have things that we need to preserve. We have generations yet that we have to look out for. And here i am.

In 2016, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent time at Oceti Sakowin camp protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Her experiences at camp led to her campaign for Congress in 2018.

Julian Bear Runner. Oglala Sioux Tribe President, 2018-2020. In 2018, Julian Bear Runner became the second-youngest President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe

Deb Haaland . Biden Nominee for Interior Secretary. She would be the first Native American to hold a U.S. cabinet-level position.

Tell Biden: End KXL and DAPL now!

Tell president-elect Joe Biden to stop DAPL once and for all and keep his promise to cancel KXL. Protect the planet and the Lakota people. No mancamps. No destruction of the earth. No endangering our water. Mni wiconi — water is life.

Dear president-elect Biden,

It’s time to stop the desecration of sacred lands with unwanted, unneeded pipelines which endanger critical, life-giving water systems in Lakota Country. Please keep your campaign promise to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline (KXL), but don’t stop there. It’s also time to end the illegal Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) once and for all.

DAPL poses a critical threat to Lake Oahe and the Missouri River, the primary source of fresh drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and millions of others. KXL’s completion would create a similar threat to the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides most of the water for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and many other residents of America’s heartland.

Please take what steps you can to decommission these pipelines immediately upon taking office. This would provide a counterpoint to President Trump’s executive orders to fast-track them in his first days as president. DAPL’s oil continues to flow even as its environmental approval process has been ruled insufficient by a U.S. District Court. KXL is also mired in legal wrangling over environmental concerns. Use the power of your office to work closely with Native Americans and show that you take Indigenous concerns seriously.

Your nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior was a meaningful step in the right direction. Please listen to her, to the leaders of tribal nations, and to people the world over when we say: no more pipelines; no more desecration of sacred lands; respect our water and our lives.

Stop KXL and DAPL for the good of all Americans and our allies all over the world. It’s time to replace outdated, dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure with renewable energy. You can build the world of tomorrow and a sustainable future for the generations to come.

With respect and in hope for a better future.

https://action.lakotalaw.org/action/biden-pipelines

Posted in #NDAPL, climate change, Dakota Access Pipeline, Indigenous, Keystone XL pipeline (KXL), Native Americans, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Abolition today

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

As I’ve been on this journey to learn, and act, related to Mutual Aid and Black Lives Matter, I’ve been learning what is meant by abolition today. When I thought about abolition, I thought about the abolition of slavery, or the death penalty. Today abolition refers to the abolition of police and a punitive criminal justice system.

BLM Philly seeks the abolition of police, jails, and the criminal justice system. Simultaneously, we are advancing solutions and supports that counteract the damage the carceral system has inflicted on our communities.

Black Lives Matter, Philadelphia

This morning I came across this amazing article about criminal justice.

On Aug. 21, Michael Stepanek drove his car through our Iowa Freedom Riders protest in Iowa City, hitting several of us and scaring the hell out of the rest of us. His justification, that we needed an “attitude adjustment,” is a white supremacist outlook.

Earlier this month, we heard from the Associated Press that his charges would be dropped and that Stepanek wouldn’t go to prison. Between Huffington Post and the Chicago Tribune, the news got around about the judge’s decision, and the vast majority of folks we heard from were disturbed and furious that Johnson County District Judge Paul Miller let him off without additional incarceration.

But to wish prison on this man is to misunderstand the Black Lives Matter protests of this summer, and to misunderstand the centuries of abolitionist work that have led us here.

Our country is obsessed with revenge. When harm occurs, the only consequences we have been taught to imagine are punitive ones. We have been taught that if someone has “done wrong,” they must be punished to learn a lesson.

Scholar and activist Angela Davis has described this false notion of justice: “Retributive justice is when we have internalized the idea that when someone commits a harm, we must do to them what they have done to us. If we feel injured, then they must also be injured. This is a vengeful retributive justice that has drastically limited our ability to respond to social harm with humanity and compassion. When harm occurs, right now we don’t ask, ‘How can we build relationship with them so that the harms no longer occur?’ We only ask, ‘How can we punish them?’”

So, we must be better than our government officials and our police who imagine only consequences via revenge. We must resist the omnipresent social messaging that revenge is equal to justice. A truly transformative justice centers those who are harmed and works with them to find how to achieve reparations.

But it simultaneously asks “why?” about the harm that occurred and locates individual harms in the context of systemic problems. It seeks to provide resources to people like Mr. Stepanek to ensure that he never commits the same harm again. A truly transformative justice recognizes that harm-doers do not get better in prison. Prison is a site of abuse and dehumanization. It takes people away from their family, friends, community, good education, decent health care, hopefulness — all the things that people need for a healthy life — all things that people need to grow.

No prison for the man who intentionally drove through our protest? We agree, and this is why. We must never legitimize any part of this rapacious system, steeped in neoliberal reforms and racial capitalism that has unrelentingly plundered Black and Brown life for centuries. Ala Mohamed, Des Moines Register, Iowa View, Jan 16, 2021.

Police terror and mass incarceration do not exist in a vacuum. In our country, harm and punishment have invaded every aspect of society, and have done so with surgical racial precision. We see it in the ways we address drug dependency and mental health crises by disproportionately putting Black and Brown people behind bars instead of providing holistic treatment. We see it in inhumane panhandling laws and cash bail that punishes people for being poor. We see it when we suspend Black children from school and give them detention at disproportionate rates. At each step, our government has legitimized punishing Black and Brown people. It is not surprising, then, that the police commit harm and violence against Black and Brown bodies with impunity—and at alarming rates.

We need to radically reimagine our concept of justice and safety. For too long, we have addressed harm with reciprocal harm. Our elected and appointed officials catered to our worst retributive instincts, resulting in mandatory minimums, sentencing enhancements, and over-policing. What did it get us? An unaddressed drug dependency and mental health crisis, jails overflowing with Black and Brown people, and too many lost loved ones to count.

What we need now is a focus on health and healing. While some pundits and naysayers saw calls to defund the police and invest in Black communities as pipe dreams, our movement did what it always does. We listened, we got to work, and we wrote the BREATHE Act. While it has not been introduced into Congress just yet, we do have champions: Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib spoke at the press launch for the bill. We want the next Presidential administration to prioritize the passing of this powerful modern day civil rights legislation. We built the roadmap to take us away from harm and towards health and healing—now, we hope they follow it.

The BREATHE Act Is the Modern-Day Civil Rights Legislation We Need BY PATRISSE CULLORS, Teen Vogue, NOVEMBER 19, 2020

Quakers have a long history of working for the abolition of slavery. And the abolition of the death penalty. Will we contribute to the prison abolition movement today? How can you be involved? One way is to look for Mutual Aid projects and/or Black Lives Matter projects near you. And you can support the Movement for Black Lives’ Breathe Act.

Posted in abolition, Black Lives, Mutual Aid, Quaker, race, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

#BlackEmergencyIA Travel Advisory for all Black Iowans

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

The riot at the US Capitol building shocked us all. But the implications for the safety of black, indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) is terrorism. Images of the assault show only white males, radical white supremacists. Some have said the motivation of the riot, and possible future riots, is to create a “race war”.

The Des Moines Black Liberation Movement has expressed concerns about the escalating violence by white extremists aimed at state capitols before next week’s inauguration.

If you notice any white supremacist activity, call the hotline immediately at 515-850-2395

The Des Moines Black Liberation Movement Thursday issued a Travel Advisory ahead of the presidential inauguration next week, in the wake of authorities’ growing concerns about violence from white extremists groups. The Des Moines BLM also announced a new “White Supremacist Hotline” that callers can use to get help, or report tips of “white nationalist or white supremacist activity.”

“In the past several months we, as a nation, have witnessed the consistent escalation of white supremacist violence aimed at altering our current trajectory towards freedom and liberation for all people. The Black Lives Matter and the Black Liberation movements have and will continue to champion this trajectory,” the press release read. “Now, there is a strong possibility of more violence on behalf of right-wing and white nationalist extremists at state capitols in all 50 states next week, including this capital city of Des Moines, IA.”

Des Moines BLM Issues ‘Travel Advisory’ for Black Iowans

Now, Des Moines BLM is reissuing its “#BlackEmergencyIA Travel Advisory for all Black Iowans,” including:

  • DO NOT travel alone or at night if at all possible. If you must then make sure to inform someone of where you are going and when you plan to return.
  • Know your rights (or learn them at aclu.org/know-your-rights).
  • Make sure to have an exit plan for any situation you find yourself in.

Des Moines Black Liberation press conference

“It is unfortunate that we have to look after ourselves in such a way because our city, state and federal authorities have failed to secure Black communities. But what this state and this nation fail to do for us, the people will do for ourselves,” the press release said.

Great Plains Action Society, January 13,
The fact that white folks are constantly shocked, surprised and clutching their pearls when they are told no or told off for their shitty “patriotic” and racially motivated actions is telling of how much privilege is afforded to white supremacy in this country.
#whitesupremacyisterrorism

Image may contain: 3 people, hat and text

The DSM Street Medic Corp will operate a hotline at 515-850-2395 for people who need rides and basic necessities delivered to their home from Jan. 16 – 27. It’s also for reporting tips.

“Anyone with tips on white nationalist or white supremacist activity is advised to call the hotline immediately,” the press release stated.

Des Moines BLM Issues ‘Travel Advisory’ for Black Iowans

Anyone with tips on white nationalist or white supremacist activity is advised to call the hotline immediately at 515-850-2395

#BlackEmergencyIA

Posted in Black Lives, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Indigenous, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The less they can fracture a community with their ways of war

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

As a Quaker and pacifist, Ronnie James’ phase about war above caught my attention. At another time he wrote, “So the question is now, where do we go from here? Do we continue to make incremental changes while the wealthy hoard more wealth and the climate crisis deepens, or do we do something drastic that has never been done before? Can we envision and create a world where a class war from above isn’t a reality anymore?” 

Meeting Ronnie James and learning about Mutual Aid from him has occupied me this year. I learned Mutual Aid is building Beloved communities.

I’ve been studying and experiencing Mutual Aid for the past year. This work has clarified my life long belief that capitalism is an immoral system. A system that only works for the benefit of the wealthy.

Which led to searching for alternatives to capitalism. I’ve long had a vision of building Beloved communities that Martin Luther King, Jr, and John Lewis spoke about and worked toward. (see: Design and Build Beloved Community Models) But hadn’t been able to find anyone interested enough to begin such a project. Friends in my Quaker Yearly Meeting have been building a community in Iowa City.

The United States is a country of staggering disparities, many of which have been put in stark relief over the past year amid compounding crises. As the coronavirus pandemic has maintained an unrelenting grip on the country, Black and Latino people have been nearly three times as likely to contract COVID-19 than white people and twice as likely to die from the virus. Unemployment has soared to historic levels, rendering millions of people unable to afford food, rent, or other basic necessities. Meanwhile, more and more people are getting involved in organizing and activism amid a nationwide uprising sparked by racist police brutality.

Against this backdrop, where large swathes of the country feel abandoned by the government, the concept of mutual aid is quickly gaining mainstream recognition. Mutual aid is a form of solidarity-based support, in which communities unite against a common struggle, rather than leaving individuals to fend for themselves. While underserved communities have long organized mutual-aid networks, in the past year, the groups have proliferated across the country, and the concept has increasingly gained mainstream recognition.

While many neighborhood networks cropped up in response to the pandemic, mutual aid is not just a response to a crisis, but instead, a more permanent alliance between people united against a common struggle. In short, people offer help — which could be resources, like food or money, or skills, like driving or picking up prescriptions — which are then redistributed to those in the community who are in need. Mutual-aid systems operate under the notion that everyone has something to contribute, and everyone has something they need.

So You Want to Get Involved in Mutual Aid By Amanda Arnold, The Cut, Sept. 30, 2020

Socialists are the best fighters for even partial gains for the working class, and they always operate as activists embedded in the mass struggles and campaigns of the oppressed. But they need to operate with the long-term aim of uniting the struggles and campaigns, which means building a socialist party – not a sect or propaganda group interested only in recruiting a few more members, but a broad party of working-class activists, where diverse outlooks are embraced, and political differences are debated.

So You Want to Get Involved in Mutual Aid By Amanda Arnold, The Cut, Sept. 30, 2020

What we have is each other. We can and need to take care of each other. We may have limited power on the political stage, a stage they built, but we have the power of numbers.  

Those numbers represent unlimited amounts of talents and skills each community can utilize to replace the systems that fail us.  The recent past shows us that mutual aid is not only a tool of survival, but also a tool of revolution. The more we take care of each other, the less they can fracture a community with their ways of war. 

The Police State and Why We Must Resist, Ronnie James, Teach In, August 29, 2020

As Ronnie said above, “The more we take care of each other, the less they can fracture a community with their ways of war.“

capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power. 

in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices

Des Moines Black Lives Matter
Posted in decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A moment of reckoning

Posted on January 9, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

The insurrection at the US Capitol was an historic event for numerous reasons. Thousands of words have been, and will continue to be spoken and written about this. Thousands of photos and videos.

This is a moment of reckoning

Now is the time to ask ourselves what kind of country, world, do we want to be living in now? Leave for our children? What can we do together to fill the void left by the collapse of white supremacy and capitalism? For white people, this is an opportunity to reject white supremacy. Where we go now is to build Mutual Aid communities.

Where do we go from here?

I’m of the firm opinion that a system that was built by stolen bodies on stolen land for the benefit of a few is a system that is not repairable. It is operating as designed, and small changes (which are the result of huge efforts) to lessen the blow on those it was not designed for are merely half measures that can’t ever fully succeed.

So the question is now, where do we go from here? Do we continue to make incremental changes while the wealthy hoard more wealth and the climate crisis deepens, or do we do something drastic that has never been done before? Can we envision and create a world where a class war from above isn’t a reality anymore?

Ronnie James, Des Moines Mutual Aid

This past year I’ve had great opportunities to learn about, and participate in Des Moines Mutual Aid. I have been blessed to witness the answer to “where do we go from here?” Where we go is to build Mutual Aid communities.

Where we go now is to build Mutual Aid communities

Following is a history of Des Moines Mutual Aid (DMMA) that was just posted on Facebook. Among other things, I learned a year ago DMMA participated in a march protesting increased hostilities with Iran. In the photos below is one where we, in Indiana, delivered petitions to the office of then Senator Donnelly supporting the Iran nuclear deal.

Des Moines Mutual Aid

One year ago today Des Moines Mutual Aid participated in a march protesting the potential for war or increased hostilities with Iran that followed the fallout of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by drone strike in Baghdad.

This was our first “public” event since adopting the name Des Moines Mutual Aid, a name we gave our crew during our growing work with our relatives at the houseless camps throughout the city and our help with coordinating a weekly free grocery store that has a 50 year history, founded by the Des Moines Chapter of The Black Panther Party For Self Defense.

A year ago we started laying the foundation for work we had no idea what was coming. As we were adjusting our work with the camps and grocery re-distribution in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, both that continued to grow in need and importance, the police continued their jobs and legacy of brutality and murder.

This nation exploded in righteous rage in response to the pig murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. DMMA realized we were in a position to organize a bail fund to keep our fighters out of jail, both to keep the streets alive as a new phase of The Movement was being born, and because jails are a hotspot of Covid-19 spread. Not to mention the racial and economic oppression that is the cash bail system.

In the past year DMMA has expanded its work in multiple directions and gained many partners and allies.

We partnered with the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement to create the DSM BLM Rent Relief initiative to help keep families in their homes in the midst of a pandemic and the winter.

The camp work has grown exponentially, but is being managed with our collaboration with Edna Griffin Mutual Aid, DSM Black Liberation Movement, and The Great Plains Action Society.

The bail fund remains successful because of desire from the public and a partnership with Prairielands Freedom Fund (formerly The Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project).

The weekly free food store has maintained itself, carrying on the legacy it inherited.

Every one of our accomplishments are directly tied to the support of so many people donating time, talent, and funds to the work. We are overwhelmed with all of your support and hope you feel we are honoring what we promised.

All of these Mutual Aid projects are just a few of many that this city has created in the last year in response to the many crises we face, not only confronting the problems and fulfilling the needs directly in front of us, but creating a sustainable movement that will be capable of responding to what’s next and shaping our collective futures as we replace the systems that fail us.

These last 12 months have been wild and a real test of all of our capabilities to collectively organize. But it is clear that we as a city have what it takes to do what is needed in 2021, no matter what crisis is next.

Much gratitude to you all.
In love and rage,
Des Moines Mutual Aid

We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.

Martin Luther King, Jr
Posted in Black Lives, decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Indigenous, Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Prepare for Change

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

The storming of the US Capitol building January 6, 2021, is the latest manifestation of the failures of our political and economic systems. And yet, I think it was more than that for most white people.

I spend a lot of effort agitating for change. When I’d become frustrated at the lack of success, I would be told change will come when large numbers of people experience what I am concerned about.

Watching the riot at the US Capitol, many white people are now seeing how fragile our political and economic systems are. Yesterday I was afraid. I’ve seen a lot of this coming, and have ideas for change. There is a gap between the present, and that vision for the future. But this past year I was blessed with many opportunities to learn and change. I continue to work with Des Moines Mutual Aid. These experiences have changed me. We are learning to be the “kind of people who could live in such a world together”.

To get these experiences, we have to be physically present with our accomplices. This is difficult for people who are just learning about Mutual Aid to understand. Far too often people have felt working on committees for a cause was good enough. It is not.

By participating in groups in new ways and practicing new ways of being together, we are both building the world we want and becoming the kind of people who could live in such a world together.

“Mutual Aid is essential to our survival” by Dean Spade, Truthout, October 28, 2020

Times like these are opportunities for bold actions for change. But if we want to make progress toward our goals, we must be alert for opportunities, and willing to take the risks that will be required.

And one of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution.

Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution, Martin Luther King, Jr

We don’t think enough about preparing ourselves for change. If we are going to be agents of change, we must make our own way through those changes. We can only begin to learn about transformative change by experiencing those changes ourselves. Then we will be able to model how others can travel through those changes themselves.

they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.”

― Neil Gaiman
  • Jpeg

Posted in decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Mutual Aid, revolution, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Storming the Capitol

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Jeff Kisling

How each of us viewed the spectacle of White men storming the US Capital yesterday puts the focus on what our worldview is.

As these and other statements point out, there is a huge difference in how this situation was handled, versus law enforcement responses to protests by Black people in this country.

It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that if this were Black people, the police response would have been more violent, and perhaps deadly. We have seen it before. When Black protesters showed up to the Capitol to mourn our dead during summer 2020, we were met with tear gas, beaten, run-over, and jailed in our thousands for simply holding vigils and rallies. Still, the people who broke into the building today, armed and ready to incite violence in an attempt to halt the confirmation of a fair democratic election, were met with little to no recourse or mass arrests.

Right now, we’re calling for our people to stay home, stay safe, and stay vigilant (follow M4BL channels for ongoing updates). We keep us safe. This moment has been triggering for many, especially those who know the sting of tear gas and the trauma that comes from interactions with police.

Take care of yourselves and one another, and know that the work we did together is and will continue to be powerful.
In solidarity and power,

Movement for Black Lives

The armed takeover of the Capitol was explicitly white supremacist, violent, and not based in any truth or justice. Their sense of entitlement has been seeded by the disproportionate response they continuously get from the state, the police, the right, and the left establishment. This is just another reminder that in this settler, corporate-owned “democracy”, people in power will do nothing in the face of white supremacist violence and the disintegration of our collective social structures. If this was #BlackLivesMatter… There has already been so much violence towards our comrades for so much less — like literally walking down the street and being Black.

They let them in, Rising Tide North American, Jan 6, 2021

What’s happening at the Capitol right now is an insurrection. What we’re seeing is a mob attack on our country and on our people, brought on by a president who refuses to accept that millions of us turned out to stand with and for each other and elect new leaders by overwhelming margins.

This violence is a threat to democracy. This angry mob of armed white people inside of our Capitol is threatening our government, including the very Republican leaders complicit in this attack.

This is happening because of the encouragement of some Republicans and the silence of others. They spread lies about this election in order to undermine the will of the people and desperately attempt to hold onto power they clearly do not deserve.

What’s worse, this was spawned by a president who has encouraged violent crackdowns on non-violent Black protesters. This is a stark reminder that in our country, the seat of power is a comfortable and welcoming space for white supremacist violence.

At CCI, we believe in democracy – a society where the people have the power to govern. We believe that every vote and every person counts. 

Iowa CCI & CCI Action joint statement on today’s mob violence on the U.S. Capitol

We are appalled by the violence shown by demonstrators who stormed the U.S. Capitol today.  We believe firmly in people’s First Amendment rights to peaceful protest; however, the violent attack by mobs who endanger others and thwart democracy is unconscionable and devastating to the country.  A peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joseph Biden must occur.  

We are grateful for the outpouring of support from friends and Friends across the world.  FCNL staff are safe. We will offer a longer statement tomorrow. 

FCNL Decries Attack on U.S. Capitol By Violent Mob By Diane Randall, January 6, 2021
Posted in Black Lives, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, race, Uncategorized | Leave a comment