YVA is hosting a Bay Area Action in San Francisco as part of Earth Day activism on April 21st, 2023!
Youth across the Bay Area are demanding that Governor Newsom be held accountable for not protecting our communities. We will empower young people to become involved in activism that allows them to tell their stories and make change, and keep them involved in the movement after this action.
Low income communities of color have had to deal with fires, floods, and bad air quality in California. We know that the root cause of the multiple crises we face is the same system responsible for the social injustices frontline communities experience daily. We are coming together to show that the power of youth of color is alive and growing and that this movement is for us and by us. We are a continuation of our ancestor’s work and resistance to systemic oppression that will not end until no one is disposable!
March Route:
We will gather at Civic Center Plaza and march to the SF State Office Complex Building (on corner of McAllister and Van Ness). Map here.
Schedule:
10:30 am - Gather at Civic Center Plaza
11:00am - Program begins - Speeches, Performances 11:30 am - March 12:00 pm - Arrive at SF Office Complex and prep materials for activities 12:30 pm - Activities and chants outside SF State Office Complex Building 1:00 pm - End
Our Demands:
1. We demand that the state of California stop investing in fossil fuels through public pension funds and that Governor Newsom supports SB252.
Right now, the retirement funds of every public employee are invested into the racist, destructive, and lying fossil fuel industry. If Newsom wants to be a climate leader, he needs to speak out against investing public pension funds in fossil fuels and support SB252, which will move our state from investing in destruction towards investing in our future.
2. We demand that Governor Newsom hold PG&E accountable to people and not profits.
Newsom must not allow PG&E to make a profit by charging customers more to cover the cost of their disastrous fires. We demand that Newsom protect people, not the profits of a private company – we need clean, public, local energy.
3. We demand that the state of CA support Migrant Justice as a part of Climate Justice and speak out against Biden’s plan to jail immigrant families.
Many individuals and families have been pushed into migration by the climate crisis or by the systems of exploitation that led to it. If Newsom is a true climate leader, he will use his platform to call out the cruelty and injustice of Biden’s threat to revive Trump’s policy of incarcerating immigrant families.
4. We demand Governor Newsom to end all new fossil fuel permits in California, drop existing production sites, and ensure there are at least 3200 ft between toxic oil drills and people's homes and schools.
Newsom is issuing a huge number of permits to extract and process even more oil. 90% of people in CA living near fossil fuel infrastructure are people of color. And if we continue to extract and burn fossil fuels, we are closing the window on a livable future. Newsom must stop new fossil fuel permits.
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