My Visit to Alaska: Touching Down in Anchorage
President Obama offers some thoughts on his trip to Alaska on Medium. See what he has to say about Day 1 of his three-day tour.
What Dr. Holdren Saw in Alaska:
Ahead of the President’s trip, his Science Advisor Dr. Holdren traveled to Alaska to learn how climate change is already affecting local communities.
The 49th State’s Place in History
Take a look back at the history of Alaska and why it is so important to protect.
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Why do the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) think fighting for Black lives is a threat to national security?123
From protests to candlelight vigiles, the FBI and DHS are illegally monitoring and spying on our movements for justice.4 If you attended a protest or rally in the last two years- they may even have a file on you! This is a blatant assault on our First Amendment right to organize and speak out against injustice.
Enough is enough! We’re launching an investigation to uncover the FBI and DHS’s monitoring activities of Black Lives Matter protests. Help us fully expose the government’s discriminatory and dangerous spying.
Chip in $15 to help expose FBI surveillance of Black Lives Matter events!
Black and brown folks are dying in the streets daily while our federal government refuses to track police shootings and the group identified as the biggest terror threat to the United States: white extremists.5 Instead of addressing police brutality, the FBI is monitoring and trying to intimidate Black activists. Instead of working to prevent the next Dylann Roof, the DHS is monitoring and trying to block justice movements.
We have too many fights to win and too much on the line to let our movement come under attack!
Over the last few months, it’s been revealed that the FBI, DHS and local police departments have been monitoring the social media accounts of activists and have even tried to intimidate activists at public events.6 They’ve used that information to compile “threat assessments” and provide “situational awareness” — coded language used by law enforcement agencies to conduct surveillance of lawful, First Amendment-protected political speech.
This surveillance serves not only to keep tabs on activists, but also to deter them from pushing forward. Surveillance is a tool of fear. These techniques are designed to create a chilling effect on people’s organizing.
The current surveillance strategy follows a history of domestic surveillance of social movements, including the civil rights movement in the 1960s.7 The FBI notoriously monitored the activities of social justice activists like Congressman John Lewis, Cesar Chavez and the Native American resistance movement through COINTELPRO (COunter INTELigenece PROgram). They subjected Dr. Martin Luther King jr. to extensive wiretapping and even tried to blackmail him into committing suicide.8
Instead of trying to protect Black Americans from actual terrorists and police brutality, they are trying to silence us. This is made all the more disturbing by the fact that these agencies are targeting activists of color with their counter-terrorism units.9 Peaceful protests, vigils, and community organizing should not be treated as national security threats by our government, and yet they are.
What we currently know is a small fraction of the state surveillance against the Black Lives Matter movement. We are going to do everything we can to expose radical and illegal surveillance tactics by the FBI and DHS.
Chip in $15 to help expose FBI surveillance of social justice activists!
Thanks and Peace,
–Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team.
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.
References:
1. “Emails Show Feds Have Monitored ‘Professional Protester’ DeRay Mckesson,” Vice News, 8-11-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5221?t=8&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
2. “EXCLUSIVE: FEDS REGULARLY MONITORED BLACK LIVES MATTER SINCE FERGUSON,” The Intercept, 7-24-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5222?t=10&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
3. “5 Examples of Our Government Treating BlackLivesMatter Movement Like a Terrorist Group,” Alternet 4-27-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5223?t=12&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
4. “EXCLUSIVE: FEDS REGULARLY MONITORED BLACK LIVES MATTER SINCE FERGUSON,” The Intercept, 7-24-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5222?t=14&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
5. “White Americans Are Biggest Terror Threat in U.S.: Study,” NBC News, 6-24-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5224?t=16&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
6. “At Last Night’s Solidarity March, the NYPD ‘Came Out Swinging’,” The Nation, 4-30-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5225?t=18&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
7. FBI Records: The Vault: Black Extremist, FBI
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5226?t=20&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
8. “The History of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the F.B.I.,” Huffington Post, 1-20-2014
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5227?t=22&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
9. “EXCLUSIVE: FEDS REGULARLY MONITORED BLACK LIVES MATTER SINCE FERGUSON,” The Intercept, 7-24-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5222?t=24&akid=4728.1174326.n-STiE
Alaska: The 49th State’s Place in History
While the President is en route to Alaska, check out this historical look at why Alaska is so important to protect.
Weekly Address: Meeting the Global Threat of Climate Change
In this week’s address, the President speaks about his trip to Alaska and highlights ways we can address the challenges of climate change — including the transition away from fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources like wind and solar, an effort in which America is already leading.
Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Last week, President Obama traveled to New Orleans to meet with the Mayor and residents who have rebuilt their lives since Hurricane Katrina.
I wanted to make sure you saw this important update from last week on the fight to save the Arctic.
President Obama arrived in Alaska today to talk climate change, just weeks after granting Shell final approval to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea. That means — now more than ever — we have a chance to make sure he hears our message: the President can’t be a leader on climate change and give Shell the green light to drill in the Arctic Ocean. Will you write a letter to help make sure President Obama does the logical thing and ends oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic?
President Obama hopes to use this Alaska trip to build a climate legacy, but opening the Arctic to a destructive company like Shell is hardly the leadership we need on climate change. We’ve created a new tool to help you send a more personal message to President Obama.
The President can still stop Shell from drilling for oil in Alaskan waters. Give him the wake up call he needs to protect Arctic communities and prevent runaway climate change.
For the Arctic,
April Glaser
Arctic Campaigner, Greenpeace USA
P.S. If you’ve already written a letter, that’s great! Be sure to share it on social media and consider joining Greenwire, our growing team of grassroots activists around the country fighting to save the Arctic.
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| Speak your mind to save the Arctic.
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Next Monday, President Obama will visit Alaska to highlight the impacts of climate change on the region.
The President recently said, “Alaskans are on the frontlines of one of the greatest challenges we face this century: climate change.” Then just days later, he granted Shell final approval to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska.
Activists have taken to the water in kayaks, hung from bridges, and rallied around the world to save the Arctic; more than 7 million people have signed the petition calling for the president to stop Shell. If you haven’t been able to join us in person yet, this is the perfect time to lend your voice. We’ve created a new tool to make it easy for you to speak personally about why you care about the Arctic.
Send a letter to President Obama telling him why you care about saving the Arctic.
It’s clear that with this trip, President Obama wants to secure his climate legacy. Unfortunately, he is also opening the Alaskan Arctic to what be a destructive oil rush — hardly climate leadership.
The fact that the President thinks he’s making real progress on climate change while allowing Shell to drill shows that he isn’t in tune with the demands from people around the country (and the world) to keep Arctic oil in the ground.
We will deliver these letters to President Obama so that he can hear personally from individuals around the nation and the world who oppose Arctic drilling. The President can still revoke Shell’s permission to drill for oil in Alaskan waters. Doing so is essential to avoiding runaway climate change and potential devastation for Alaskan communities and wildlife.
It’s crucial that we show President Obama this fight’s not over.
For the Arctic,
April Glaser
Arctic Campaigner, Greenpeace USA
P.S. President Obama has said that the impacts of climate change in Alaska should be “our wake up call.” We think President Obama needs a wake up call on Arctic drilling. Will you help us send him one? Send your message to President Obama today.
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