January, 03 2017, 03:00pm EDT
Hundreds in Seattle, Oakland Kick Off National Earth2Trump Resistance Roadshow Tour
16-city Tour Opposing Trump Attacks on Environment, Civil Rights Stops Next in Portland, Los Angeles
OAKLAND, Calif.
Hundreds of people in Oakland and Seattle on Monday kicked off the cross-country Earth2Trump roadshow, a two-route, 16-stop tour building a network of resistance against President-elect Trump's attacks on the environment and civil rights.
The free shows include live music, national and local speakers and a chance for participants to write personalized Earth2Trump messages that will be delivered to Washington, D.C., on inauguration day Jan. 20. The Center for Biological Diversity is organizing the shows in coordination with allied groups around the country.
"This wave of resistance against Trump is only starting to build. What we saw in Oakland and Seattle will continue to grow bigger and stronger in the coming weeks," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center. "And after Trump is in office, we'll be there every day to oppose every policy that hurts wildlife, poisons our air and water, destroys our climate, promotes racism, misogyny or homophobia, or marginalizes entire segments of our society."
The shows in Seattle and Oakland included Hawaiian singer Makana, Brazilian funk band Namorados da Lua, and singer/songwriters Dana Lyons and Casey Neill. Attendees also signed a pledge of resistance and added their personal messages into large globes bound for D.C.
"I'm so inspired by the outpouring of empowerment and resistance we're already seeing," said Valerie Love, one of the Earth2Trump organizers who spoke at Oakland's event. "When we come together and speak with a single voice, we become a force that can stand up and defend our environment, civil rights and democracy."
Next stops
The central tour travels by train and will be at Ecotrust in Portland, Ore. tonight from 7 p.m.-10 p.m., featuring Portland singer Mic Crenshaw and American Indian storyteller Si Matta, who was part of the water-protector occupation at Standing Rock.
The southern tour that began in Oakland will be in Los Angeles on Thursday from 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. at Global Beat Multicultural Center. The show features Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez and musicians Casey Neill and Allyah.
See a map of the tour and more details at www.Earth2Trump.org. Follow the tour on social media with #Earth2Trump and on the Center's Medium page.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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Watch:
The pardons Trump is handing out are a huge, growing scandal that not enough people are talking about. This is a money making operation - for for Trump, his family, his crypto pals, and the Trump-affiliated lobbyists and grifters who the pardon seekers pay. pic.twitter.com/FwLRyHDMqN
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