“The Path Forward” event on 1/27/21 

by Jacqueline Velez, Racial Justice Organizer, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice. 

We fight on the frontlines of many fronts and even with all these people fighting sometimes we still feel very alone. Many times we can’t seem to shake the feeling of running in place and ever reaching our destination, our shared goals. We have good intentions but we’ve been on the wrong path.

The Path Forward is not only one we must re-imagine but create, not only for ourselves, but for all of our children.

There are times we will be faced with a fork in the road but when we do we don’t have to move forward as if there are only two options, two ways to go. We must realize there is another option and that is to forge a new path, a new path forward.

A path that disparagingly denounces racism, a path that does not accept racism in all its forms and in all of our systems. Racism is at the heart of all the fights we’ve inherited and taken on. Some years ago although I knew environmental and climate justice was important I didn’t think of any of it as my fight at all. Not until Hurricanes Maria and Irma struck Puerto Rico and ravaged the 100 mile long and 35 mile wide island 1,500 miles away from the United States. I watched so much turmoil, despair, pain and loss and felt helpless even while being an organizer in the states, even after helping to fill up a plane with supplies in Northampton, MA going to Puerto Rico to provide a small bit of relief. 

When I discovered that we were going to be neglected, ignored and treated as if my people were second class citizens although we are a territory of the US, I realized not only was Nuestra Isla Bonita, a sacrificial zone, but that those in power could care less about us. They don’t care about people because we were not the right race. As a matter of fact, we are not considered a race at all according to Americans. I realized at that time all our fights are about race. Environmental and Climate injustice was a racial justice fight and therefore all our fight, and if we do not fight for it as passionately and as hard as we do for all our other fights we would not be able to fight for any of those things that keep us apart or up at night.  

All our fights must be inclusive of all marginalized people from vulnerable communities. We must not compartmentalize our fights because we are much more powerful together! Our fights all intersect, so we must move forward as if they all are our fight, one fight! We must believe that if even one of us is not well, none of us are. We must not be complacent because Biden and Harris, a woman of color, have been elected as our leaders.  We must be vigilant and do our due diligence because the players may change but the attacks all stay the same and they are attacks on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the poorest communities  on all fronts.