Hi,
My cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis, are in a police state right now in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. We are being occupied by more than 10,000 soldiers – a military force nearly the same size as the US deployment in Afghanistan.
In Minnesota, we’re not used to being a focal point for worldwide revolution. But if the world can take anything from what we’ve already learned in this moment, it’s that this time of upheaval should be spent reexamining how precious life is and understanding with fresh eyes how much everything would change if we valued each other more – especially our neighbours. The past few days have been spent explicitly taking care of each other, after we had been wronged so objectively by the people who were supposed to be doing just that.
A few days ago, after returning from dropping off a load of food and medical supplies, I came across a simple sign about a mile from where Floyd was murdered: "PEOPLE LIVE HERE"
This sign in the window of a coffee shop was meant to signal to rioters not to burn the building, because there were apartments above. But to me, in that moment, it meant a whole lot more.
In a city that has long prided itself on maintaining social detachment – leading, in part, to some of the most segregated neighbourhoods in the US – the idea that people live here was clearly revolutionary. We’ve seen each other, and ourselves, in a completely new way this week. And we have gained a level of moral clarity and mutual responsibility we’ve never had before.
The title of this week’s newsletter is a reference to what is, in my opinion, the most important news article ever written. I think of this article often, daily even, during moments like this when the world seems to be collapsing and certain politicians are actively, brazenly, proudly making it worse.
Here’s the good news on climate this week
My bold prediction: What’s happened this week in Minneapolis will change the climate movement forever, worldwide.
What would change if we saw every space through each other’s eyes, as those of us in Minneapolis now have?
Taking just a moment to think of the vast and systemic consequences of this week’s reckoning on racial justice will have major consequences in the climate emergency.
Minneapolis is one of the fastest-warming cities in the US. Extreme heat, a rarity even just a few decades ago, is now one of Minnesota’s top three killers when it comes to extreme weather. Black people in Minneapolis, as in every US city, are far less likely to have access to air conditioning, and are at a far greater risk of dying during heat waves. That’s a 7-times greater increase in mortality compared to their white neighbours. I could go on and on about how the climate crisis and racism are inextricably linked.
White supremacy caused the climate crisis, and it will take explicit and sustained anti-racism to fix it.
Surviving the climate emergency requires all of us, everyone in the world, to participate in "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One of the best ways of achieving that, as my colleague Zoe Smith writes, is by implementing the principle of mutual aid.
That it is apparently easier for our leaders to imagine a military occupation of our own cities than to simply stop killing black people is perhaps all you need to know about the United States of America in the year 2020. But I think Minneapolis can show the start of a different path. People in Minneapolis this week are meeting our neighbours and providing mutual aid on an enormous scale. We are willing to change everything.
When you look out across your street, across your city, across the world – do you see people and families deserving of love and care? How do our actions affect others?
People live here. We have a responsibility to each other.
That’s what all of this is really about, isn’t it?
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