Joseph Gerson / Campaign for Peace and Justice
(June 8, 2020) — This is a critical period for the people of the United States. If we remain alter and mobilized in the coming weeks and months, anti-racist and democratic forces will make profound changes for a more just and peaceful nation. But nothing is guaranteed or inevitable.
This past Friday, in association with the International Peace Bureau and Peace Action, the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security organized a webinar on racism and resistance in the current moment. It featured Rev. Karlene Griffiths Sekou of Black Lives Matter, Lewis Webb of the American Friends Service Committee, Jim Anderson of Peace Action, and IPB’s co-president Philip Jennings. More than 100 activists from across the US, Europe and East Asia joined us. You can hear the recording at https://youtu.be/jJNQJVzDcDg.
CPDCS also issued the following statement. We have also appended a list of organizations you can join with or support for anti-racist actions.
Take action! In your community, your organization, and with your friends!
For Justice, Peace & Security, Joseph Gerson
CPDCS STATEMENT
(June 6, 2020) — The Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security stands with the Black Lives Matter movement’s call to end the racial injustice and violence inflicted on Black people and communities of color. We remain committed to intersectional organizing, education, and analysis in our demands for nuclear weapons abolition and common security diplomacy.
We know this is a period of critical resistance to institutional and government racism, organized police brutality, mounting fascism, and the danger of armed civil conflict. We stand with people across the country, and the world, who are insisting that Black Lives and constitutional democracy matter.
We know that we are at this point today as a country because of white supremacy and the slavery upon which this country was built; the decades-long rollback of the gains of the Civil Rights movement; and continued institutionalized white supremacy and racism. We must dismantle white supremacy and rebuild a society and a government that upholds and defends Human Rights.
The Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security recognizes four interrelated crises in this critical moment for the United States:
- The failed response to the Covid-19 crisis, which has led to over 100,000 deaths, within which people of color are disproportionately represented in this death toll.
- The failed response to the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, which has left nearly 40 million workers unemployed and facing loss of food security, housing, medical insurance, and more. Again, Black people and other People of Color are disproportionately impacted.
- The wave of police violence against Black people, including the killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.
- A lawless president and his enablers, who have no respect for democracy and its institutions, and have encouraged white extremist and police violence, dispatched armed thugs to threaten responsible elected officials, and are doing all that they can to prevent free and fair elections in November.
We recognize that there will be no immediate solutions to this massive social, political, and economic crisis. We urge people to organize and take wise and dedicated nonviolent action, including in the ballot box, to end white supremacy and to create a just and peaceful nation.
Organizations you can join and support for anti-racist action:
1. Keep listening, learning, and engaging.
2. Donate to causes that support black people and fight racism:
a. George Floyd Memorial Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
b. Minnesota Freedom Fund: https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/
c. Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019
d. Black Visions Collective: https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/
e. Reclaim the Block: https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/home
f. Campaign Zero: https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
g. Unicorn Riot: https://unicornriot.ninja/
h. ACLU: https://action.aclu.org/give/now
i. NAACP : https://www.naacpldf.org/
j. National Bail Fund Network : https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory
k. Bail Fund Directory: https://bailfunds.github.io/
l. National Police Accountability Project: https://www.nlg-npap.org/donate/
m. Know Your Rights Camp: https://www.knowyourrightscamp.com/legal
3. Sign a petition
a. Justice for George Floyd: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd?utm_source=brand_us&utm_medium=media&use_react=false
b. We Can’t Breath: https://www.wecantbreathenational.org/
c. NAACP – We are Done Dying: https://naacp.org/campaigns/we-are-done-dying/
d. Color of Change: https://colorofchange.org/campaigns/active/
e. Breonna Taylor: Say her name: https://www.standwithbre.com/
g. National Action Against Police Brutality: https://www.change.org/p/national-action-against-police-brutality-and-murder
h. DOJ Investigation of Police Killings and Harassment of African Americans: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-this-petition-police-are-not-above-the-law-demand-the-doj-investigate-police-killings-and-harassment-of-african-americans
4. In Europe:
a. The European Network Against Racism: https:/ar-eu.org.
The Campaign for Peace and Justice is a US-based non-profit which advocates peace and nuclear disarmament with justice. For more information see CPDCS.org
