We know that the only solutions to the climate crises must be firmly rooted in Black Liberation. Black people have been on the frontlines of extractive environmental impacts for over 400 years. Yet, we also know that it is the resistance, power, and brilliance of Black people that can lead our way out of this global crisis towards transformation. These ideas forged the 2021 partnership between M4BL and GCCLP.  Together, through the launching of the Red, Black & Green New Deal (RBGND) initiative, the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP) and Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) made a bold and clear statement that climate change impacts Black Lives.

 

By establishing the National Black Climate Agenda, setting up membership and governance infrastructure for the Black Hive, and socializing a narrative connecting climate justice and Black Lives, GCCLP has helped to seed a new era in climate advocacy.  As we enter 2022, we transition our anchor and leadership role and support the RBGND’s next level of movement work.

 

For more than 16 years, GCCLP has used methods of facilitative leadership to cultivate ideas and seed self-governing frontline formations. In January, GCCLP will officially step back from its leadership of the RBGND Initiative and return to a broader set of movement work. We are excited for M4BL to usher the RBGND initiative through this next phase of growth and advancement. 

 

In 2022, GCCLP will continue rooting our work in the pillars stemming from the Gulf South and developed over the past three years of our Green New Deal work in the South and in Black communities across the US: water, energy, land, labor, economy, and democracy. Our National Climate Action Strategy will identify state-level interventions while informing federal policy shifts around these pillars. Working with national formations and climate leaders from various climate frontlines, the National Climate Action Strategy will advance structural shifts toward climate justice and ecological equity rooted in a commitment to Black Liberation. We wanted to simply inform you of this shift, and thank you for your continued support of our leadership and our commitment to a more sustainable future.

 

For more information on the Red, Black & Green New Deal, visit redblackgreennewdeal.org or contact info@m4bl.org. 

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In Power and Solidarity and with Radical Black Love,

Colette Pichon Battle

Executive Director 

Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy