Readings

Dear CEC leadership and close friends,

A while back I wrote a piece about a freak car accident I was in more than a decade ago, involving a tire-squealing backward fishtail, the horror of losing connection with the earth, the long slow-motion pause of hanging in midair, and a series of skull-and-metal crunching flips and rolls down more than 100 feet of ravine to land heavily in an oak tree — upside down, tires spinning, me alone on all fours on the inside roof of my car covered in glass and blood.

Writing Back From the Cliff Edge, I reflected on the fierce will to live that pulls and drives us forward – an innate force that pushes us to initiate our own rescue when needed. But after years of navigating a regional nonprofit through an era of global crises in which our species faces one existential threat after another, one cliffhanger after another, I was troubled that we have yet to fully materialize the type of biological life-saving response that I’d expect. I’d wondered in particular where the women were.

Then, this week, the moms showed up.

And not just a few moms. A Wall of Moms. A massive, determined, angry, heartbroken, hopeful, fierce, non-violent wall of moms — in yellow shirts, masks and helmets — locking arms and putting their bodies in harm’s way in support of #blacklivesmatter and Don’t Shoot PDX.

As a Portland native with family and friends in that city, including one who was involved in the Wall of Moms’ formation, I’ve been following this development closely. It is a story with many angles, but at the core it’s about healing our society from the legacies of colonialism, racism, and white supremacy. It’s about recognizing that for black, indigenous, and people of color, the threat to one’s very existence – that is, existential threats — are nothing new.

In conversations over the past couple of months, I sense that more people are recognizing that our simultaneous crises – a global pandemic, structural racism, an historic economic recession, erosion of our political systems, and unprecedented climate chaos – are connected by strong, systemic roots that can’t be solved with minor chiropractic adjustments. There is a growing recognition that we cannot continue with business as usual, and that change starts at the local level: in our communities, in our homes.

And so it gives me heart, the millions of people leaning into this moment, showing up for those who have been working for change for years. The Wall of Moms and the subsequent Dad Block. The Society of Fearless Grandmothers, which has regularly risked arrest in defense of climate justice, and which this weekend placed hundreds of pairs of empty shoes outside the County Courthouse in a pandemic-adapted march. The Moms Clean Air Force and EcoMadres, advocating around the country on behalf of the 91 percent of Latina mamás y abuelitaswhoagree that it’s time to “stop playing politics and get the job done when it comes to climate change, clean air and clean water.”

This is a Wall that I can get behind: a wall of parents, grandparents, elders and just-plain-grownups joining forces, willing to make significant personal sacrifices for the sake of protecting children, grandchildren, and future generations…

Sigrid Wright

CEO/Executive Director

Community Environmental Council

swright@cecmail.org

O: (805) 963-0583 ext. 109

C: (805) 680-1404