On June 19th, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, over 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state of Texas were freed after an executive decree was issued in the city of Galveston Bay.
In 2021, Juneteenth was established as an official federal holiday. Today, it is celebrated by some, and marked as a time to emphasize Black achievement, and commemorated by others as a day to recognize that injustice is still alive in the United States.
As an organization dedicated to climate justice, intersectional environmentalism, and peacemaking, we recognize this country's failure to protect Black communities and include Black voices in both environmental activism and environmental appreciation.
We also recognize the intricately connected relationship between racism and the climate crisis, knowing that colonization and systemic racism have directly created the current global problems we are facing.
Our work towards a more viable future for our planet must go hand-in-hand with working towards a more just world for Black communities.
Therefore, we at AVF are working to acknowledge and dismantle our own unconscious blindspots and bias, in order to stand as allies in solidarity with all BIPOC people, organizations and communities.
