The California Student Sustainability Coalition joined a coalition of social justice and environmental groups on Monday, January 2 in Oakland to kick off the cross-country Earth2Trump roadshow, a two-route, 16 stop tour building a network of resistance against President-elect Trump’s dangerous agenda on civil rights and the environment.
The Oakland gathering featured notable speakers such as include Julio Madrigal from Planting Justice, Sandhya Jha from the Oakland Peace Center, and Eva Lin from the Alliance for Climate Education. A simultaneous gathering took place at Seattle, where the tour’s central route began.
The central tour was in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, having featured 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 was at Los Angeles on Wednesday at the Global Beat Multicultural Center. The show featured Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez and musicians Casey Neill and Allyah.
The shows offered 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 Kierán 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.”
“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.”
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.