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    rev. lennox yearwood jr

    A closeup of a sign worn by a demonstrator reading, "Remember King."

    The Climate Movement and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

    In a divided America, there is at least one universal left, and that is the shared world we inhabit.

    Bill Mckibben
    Aug 31, 2023

    It may not surprise readers of this newsletter when I say that my great American hero is the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. To mark the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, I’ve been reading Jonathan Eig’s very fine new biography and re-reading for the umpteenth time the unsurpassable three-volume account of King and the civil rights movement by Taylor Branch.

    And as ever I come back to the same place: King’s heroism came from his unmatched ability to combine the prophetic and the practical. We have plenty of great Americans who exemplified one or the other, but perhaps only Lincoln comes close to mixing them with the same alchemical power. King had many tools that lent him strength: He was able to listen, capable of keeping his ego in check, naturally empathetic, grounded from youth in the (not inconsiderable) politics of the church. He had the support of a strong family and a stronger wife; all of that allowed a kind of low-key and appropriate messianism that never overwhelmed him. He wasn’t a saint (the job description of prophets and saints are very different) but he was radiant.

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    Opinion
    climate emergency
    Stop Funding Dirty Energy

    The Language of 'Brown Finance' in Climate Finance is Racist

    If you cannot hear the problem with the term "brown finance" yourself, please let me explain.

    Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.
    Jun 26, 2020

    I first wrote this article in March, to be published in April for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. I couldn't get it published. Outlets kept turning it down, even the most hard core environmental outlets. It was just one of countless indigities and frustrations that come with being a Black leader in the climate movement.

    Here I am, a fairly prominent climate activist, trying to alert our movement to the fact that we shouldn't be using racist language, and the feedback from friendly, or so I thought, media outlets was more or less, "Eh, what's the big deal? We're going to pass."

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    Opinion
    climate
    Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr

    All We're Asking Is to Let Us Live: Stop the Money Pipeline Now

    If you continue to fund projects that are literally putting our planet, our existence on the line, and defining the existence of our children, then you have left us no choice: that we must put our bodies against the gears of the machine and bring it to a grinding halt.

    Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.
    Jun 12, 2020
    This January, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus gave a speech at a civil disobedience protest at a Chase Bank branch in Washington, D.C. to help launch the Stop the Money Pipeline campaign. The YEARS Project and Hip Hop Caucus just released a new video of the speech that conveys the power and urgent message of his words.
    "Chase Bank, you have become rogue in your business plan, the same way that slavery and other institutions that no longer have a social license. You are on that path. And that is why we are here."
     
    Let me first say to the employees of this branch, we are here not as adversaries. That's very important. We stand here as humans together. We are brothers and sisters on this planet.
     
    I'm here because I'm originally from Louisiana and 14 and a half years ago, almost 1,900 beautiful Americans, predominantly Black people, but Americans, drowned in the richest country in the world. And I would hope that post-Katrina, that we would be doing things better than what we did 15 years ago. That we would use that time to divest from fossil fuels and invest in clean energy.
     
    I would hope that that would be the business plan. The problem though is that the business plan right now, for this bank, for Chase Bank, is that they are funding the fossil fuel industry. Over the past three years, they put $196 billion dollars into the fossil fuel industry.
     
    Chase Bank, you have become rogue in your business plan, the same way that slavery and other institutions that no longer have a social license. You are on that path. And that is why we are here.
     
    We're also here because the pipelines you are building are in the communities of Black and Brown people and, so, that can't be the situation. You're funding pipeline projects that are literally causing asthma or bronchitis or worse, cancer. We can't support that.
     
    The folks who are impacted by this are people who look like me, who are Black and Brown people who are suffering. I just want to keep it 100% real: that the money that comes out of this bank literally kills poor people in the same community they're operating in. There's too many reasons to stop this madness. This is not about Republican or Democrat or rich or poor.
    "You are funding projects that are killing our existence. This is not only about equality. It's about existence."
     
    This is about humanity. Listen, there are other ways to make money. You can do better than this. You are funding projects that are killing our future. You are funding projects that are killing our existence. This is not only about equality. It's about existence.
     
    So, we're here, to bring you a message. If you continue to fund projects that are literally putting our planet, our existence on the line, and defining the existence of our children, then you have left us no choice: that we must put our bodies against the gears of the machine and bring it to a grinding halt.
     
    So again, to those who are working, I know on a Friday, I know this is probably the last thing you wanted to see. But get used to it. Because we're gonna be there. Everywhere you are. As long as you continue to fund destruction. All we're asking is to let us live. Let. Us. Live. Stop the money pipeline. Thank you.
    Opinion
    stop the money pipeline

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