Standing With Black Lives Matter Livestream Panel (Once Again Pac)

Standing With Black Lives Matter

Saturday, June 06, 2020 at 5 PM PT (8 PM ET)

Tonight, we will be in conversation with panel discussion with experts, activists,
and community leaders answering questions and discussing the significance of the
Black Lives Matter movement.

Special guest speakers featured include:

--Shanequa Charles, Human Rights/Criminal Justice Activist
--Sammie Paul, Education Advocate & Student Organizer
--Tahese Warley, Elementary Public School Educator
--Agunda Okeyo, Writer, Producer, Activist
--Samelys Lopez, Congressional Candidate for NY-15 (The Bronx)
--Shahid Buttar, Candidate for California's 12th Congressional District

As we move forward in these next couple of weeks, it’s important for those in our movement
to realize is that our fight is intersectional and interconnected in every aspect:

We cannot address the Green New Deal and global climate crisis without environmental racism. A majority of inhabitants living near hazardous waste or redlined communities are predominantly people of color — with environmental causes that pollute air, poison water,
and dilapidated homes, affecting far more black people than others.

We cannot address Medicare for All without considering racism and implicit bias in the medical community, nor the lack of access to quality healthcare. There exists an overwhelming health disparity within black and brown communities — Black Americans currently dying of Covid-19 at three times the rate of others.

We cannot address Student Debt Cancellation without addressing reforms needed in public education and the pervasiveness of the school to prison pipeline disproportionately affecting Black and Brown youth — to the debilitating debt sentence preventing generations from attaining social mobility and access to resources.

We cannot address the End to Wars both abroad and home without addressing America’s intrinsic role in upholding the institutional structures of racism — the militarization of state-sponsored violence and condemnation through policing and policy, resulting in the deaths of countless innocent Black lives and livelihoods, and exactly why we are on the streets today.

We stand in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter because it's absolutely necessary in order for us to progress forward — our history is tainted by injustices done on Black and Brown lives that continue to encroach pervasively into our modern day, and justice is long overdue.