Hope is rising;
people all across the globe
are marching for a better world.
We have had enough; it is long past
time for change.
We are marching for social justice,
protesting police brutality,
demanding a better world,
for all people.
Let's not forget Mother Earth
as we are marching.
Social justice and environmental justice
go hand in hand.
If we don't start helping
to heal the earth, the issue
of social justice will
become moot.
The whole planet
will - too soon - be saying
"I can't breathe".
Let's march for our sisters
and for our brothers,
and remember, too,
we are marching
for our Mother.
for Brendan at earthweal : Environmental Justice
Chantel (Martin) Moore of Tofino
I am heading out to a rally in Tofino to protest the shooting of a 26 year old First Nations woman from our community, shot to death in her apartment by a policeman in the east when he was making a "wellness" check. Sending an armed man in to check on a young woman who was already scared and feeling threatened was not the best call. She was holding a knife, obviously terrified. (She had told a friend that someone was harrassing her; she may have thought it was that person at the door.) Instead of talking, trying to de-escalate the situation, or simply backing out of her space, and calling for a woman officer, the policeman fired five times, killing her. She had just moved to the east to be with her five year old daughter, who is now motherless.
In Canada, we have racism across the board. But in my opinion, those who have felt its lash and oppression the deepest and the longest are our First Nations communities, some of whom havent even had clean water or the basics needed for life for decades. Their experience with the police is very different from a white person's, and this is just not right.
I am starting to wish I wasnt a news junkie. In my lifetime i have seen a lot, but this endless day after day horror is more than a person can reasonably bear. I have some hope now that people everywhere are rising for change. We need it.
"I can't breathe" - such powerful words. They sum up so much.
ReplyDeleteI have quit with news. just cannot take it.
ReplyDeleteI busy myself with tinkering around our place. after two horrendous storm, there plenty to keep my busy.
Marching with you - Suzanne of Mapping Uncertainty
ReplyDeleteThose of us who are too far away or unable to march are with you in spirit, Sherry. Hope buoys us, lifts us above the brutality and injustice. I don’t want to hear the whole planet saying "I can't breathe".
ReplyDeleteThe injustices pile up daily. When we learn to be good caretakers of our planet, we will know how to be good caretakers of each other. They are intertwined.
ReplyDeleteThese are heartbreaking times. Marching, speaking up, are vital. We all must be the change.
ReplyDeleteAmen. The thunder of the march encompasses social and environmental justice; they are, weirdly, the same. Police violence against First Nation people comes from the same place as corporations stealing native land. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteI love that you write about all injustice - the environment, indigenous people, black people, poor people. Sad, the story you tell. I like that you highlighted Jane Goodall. She's my favorite heroine. Frankly, so are you.
ReplyDeleteMyrna, I am touched. Bless you.
Delete"Social justice and environmental justice
ReplyDeletego hand in hand." I agree with you, Sherry. The poor are those who suffer and will suffer the most as the environmental crisis grows worse and worse.
This is very sad about this young woman.
Yes - Hope is rising in the protesting, in the saying enough, in the remembering the earth - and then the heartbreak of this and other senseless murder your poem marches on - we will overcome. (and i do so love Jane Goodall)
ReplyDeleteBoth your poem and the note following it show clear vision and a desire to tell it like it is. It's a strength I hope you will never tire of. People listen, but only hear a little at a time here and there. Who knows what will crack souls open?
ReplyDeleteBlack Americans think that Canada is safer for them....not so it seems !
ReplyDelete