Our Support for the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Agenda and the Movement for Black Lives:
A Recap of 2020 Actions, and Looking Forward
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the United States, and Virginia, saw a movement that was a long time in the making and caused by centuries of inequality, inequitable policymaking, structural racism, the systemic devaluing of certain lives, and failure of society and organizations to adequately and properly use resources to support the voices of those leading for change.
The Sierra Club itself is not immune to all of the issues described above. In fact, we’ve been historically complicit in some. As the Movement for Black Lives grew over the summer the Sierra Club began to take a long-overdue, hard, and close look at both the laws and narratives that needed changing. Our organization, at a National and state level, acknowledged the racist beliefs of our founder, John Muir, and the effect those beliefs played and still play in our operations. We announced a commitment to address the structural inequity of our organization at every level, from personnel and human resources, to how we spend our financial resources.
Here in Richmond, Virginia, the headquarters of our Virginia Chapter, we saw the overdue removal of statues that celebrated and hoisted racist people and the racist values they held and practiced. The Sierra Club took a position that it was time for these relics to be retired from the public pedestals on which they stood celebrated for too long.
At the Chapter, we turned our attention to the policymaking process. Governor Northam called a Special Session of the General Assembly over the summer to address both the health pandemic, but the racism and inequity pandemic as well. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others showed television and phone screens across the country that drastic policy change and institutional reform was needed and needed now.
The Virginia Chapter used its financial and digital resources to support a reform agenda put forward in the Special Session by the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. It was and remains important to recognize the prioritization of issues that affect Black and Brown lives as inherently critical, indeed, symbiotic, to the existence and values for which we hope our organization will eventually achieve but recognize does not yet do so.
The Legislative Black Caucus’ agenda achieved success in the Special Session. Virgnia passed a law banning choke holds, like the one used in Mr. Floyd’s murder, that was introduced by Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy. Virginia became the first state to pass a law banning the use of no-knock warrants, as seen in the murder of Breonna Taylor, in legislation that was introduced by Delegate Lashresce Aird. Virginia changed the laws on the bystander officer intervention policy in legislation that was introduced by Delegate Delores McQuinn. Our lawmakers passed a large policing reform bill that changed training standards, addressed the militarization of police departments, expanded the authority of the Attorney General to investigate crimes, among many other changes in legislation introduced by Senator Mamie Locke. The Virginia Chapter urged our membership and supporters to contact their legislators, in the virtual Special Session, in support of these initiatives. We will continue to do so, without question. Virginia Chapter staff and volunteer leaders lobbied legislators on behalf of these and other bills to advance the policy making changes needed to advance the Movement for Black Lives as a whole. We are committed to continuing to use our resources and platform to bring about change and justice for Black and Brown people; we know that we don’t often have answers and shouldn’t participate in every space, but when appropriate, we pledge to continue to support.
As the 2021 Regular Session of the General Assembly progresses, we will continue to support legislation that makes bold changes to the structural inequities that are holding back people and systems from achieving success and equality. In addition to using our staff and volunteer lobbying capacity, we will continue to urge our membership and supporters to contact the General Assembly via phone and email in support of initiatives brought forward by the Legislative Black Caucus and its members.
You may be wondering why the Virginia Chapter is committing its focus and resources on racial justice while also maintaining our work on campaigns and action we are typically associated with. The answer lies in the inescapable conclusion that protecting the planet requires social justice. It is not a coincidence that communities of color bear a far greater burden of pollution than their white counterparts. The forces that fuel our climate crisis are the same ones that uphold the structures of inequality and oppression. A focus on how racism intersects with climate change and conservation can only add to the effectiveness of our work. We can create a future that rises to the challenge of climate change, but it can only be achieved if we are part of a movement that leaves no one behind.
Connor Kish
Legislative and Political Director
Sierra Club Virginia Chapter