July 2, 2021

This annual holiday celebrated by the Black community in Texas and other southern states in the United States on June 19th is known as Juneteenth. It is designated as an official holiday in the United States as of 2021.

Green Party of Philadelphia

Juneteenth has been commemorated and celebrated for over 150 years by communities across the country; it is now the second year that Juneteenth is recognized as an official City holiday in Philadelphia this year. There are several programmes and events to commemorate Juneteenth.

Moreover, the Green Party of Philadelphia participated in the Juneteenth celebration in Malcolm X Park on 51st and Pine Street with other organizations. The events started with a march at 9AM, following live music sessions, and discussions. On June 19th, the Green Party of Philadelphia published a picture with the caption “Come join us at @MalcolmXPark to celebrate #Juneteenth “

During the publicity of the event, the Greens called against the commercialization of Juneteenth at a press release on their website. They have referred to an article written by Green Party and Black Alliance for Peace activist ,Margaret Kimberley, which called the most common narratives used in this appropriation usually “give dispensation to bad actors and sanitize awful truths”

What is Juneteenth and how not to celebrate it ?

In the aforementioned article, Kimberley explained the historical background of the Juneteenth as such: “Juneteenth commemorates the events of June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston and announced that slavery ended as per General Order Number 3.

“It is an important event that ought to be remembered, but its true significance has been lost.The untold importance of the Emancipation Proclamation is that it established the right of escaped people to join the army. Juneteenth has become the latest iteration of liberal capture of Black politics, opportunistic virtue signalling, and the intentional misrepresentation of America’s history.”

Green Party’s approach

In an interview with Global Green News, Chris Robinson, leader of the communication team for Green Party of Pennsylvania and member of the Green Party of Philadelphia answered a few questions about the approach to Juneteenth among the Green Party members and “how not to celebrate Juneteenth”.

Question: On the Green Party US website, Green Party of Philadelphia stresses the fact that as Juneteenth gets designated an official holiday, it has also been appropriated and commercialized. Can you elaborate more on the tone of the Green Party towards the commercialization of Juneteenth?

Chris Robinson: We have all witnessed the commercialization of the Birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. since 1994. Instead of celebrating and emulating King’s life of resistance and struggle, MLK Day is now called “a day of service.” We are being taught by the government and media to celebrate King’s life without including King’s opposition to militarism or his leadership of mass demonstrations. They have tried to erase from our memory King’s work for civil rights and labor union rights. Many people, along with Green Party members are concerned that the same thing will happen with Juneteenth, now that it has become a national holiday.

Question: Considering the demonstrations against the ongoing and uprising racial injustice that happened last year, where do you think Juneteenth should be situated? Should it be an opportunity to discuss these racial injustices, or should it be a “feel good” day with celebrations?

Chris Robinson: The Green Party believes that Juneteenth should be seen as a counter-celebration to the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, the Fourth of July celebrates a freedom, which was declared by slaveholders in 1776. That declaration left four million citizens in slavery. Juneteenth, on the other hand, has historically been understood and celebrated as a rebirth of freedom. The heritage of slavery still haunts U.S. society in the form of institutional racism and xenophobia. The Green Party will work to commemorate Juneteenth as a day of resistance against oppression instead of a substance-free feel good day. 

If you are interested in events organized by the Green Party US, check out their calendar.

For the City of Philadelphia Juneteenth celebrations and more information on their Juneteenth programme, click here. 

Zeynep Karageldi

Zeynep is from Izmir, Turkey. She is a second-year undergraduate student at McGill University in Montreal pursuing a BA in Political Science. Passionate about environmental science and environmental law, Zeynep likes to address issues from both scientific and political perspectives as a writer. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and traveling.

 

https://globalgreen.news/green-party-of-philadelphia-celebrates-juneteenth/ 

https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-green-party-council-candidate-hopes-to-capitalize-on-voters-appetite-for-change/

Green Party candidate hopes to shake up Pittsburgh council

COURTESY OF MATT NEMETH

Connor Mulvaney

A Green Party candidate for the Pittsburgh City Council seat held by Anthony Coghill is hoping to capitalize on a progressive movement that propelled state Rep. Ed Gainey to a win over Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto last week.

“People in Pittsburgh and across the country are beginning to realize we need bold change and we can’t wait for the same old boys to do it for us. We are here to make it for ourselves,” Connor Mulvaney said Tuesday evening. He was speaking at a kickoff to his campaign, livestreamed from the war memorial cannon in the city’s Brookline neighborhood.

Mulvaney, 28, of Brookline, has the support of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Pittsburgh chapter, the same group that supported state Reps. Summer Lee and Sara Innamorato in their 2018 Democratic primary victories over established incumbents Paul Costa and Dom Costa.

Lee and Innamorato supported Gainey in his victory over Peduto in the Democratic primary last week.

Mulvaney, a bicycle technician who works in Robinson, is also a community organizer who has worked with Re-imagine Beaver County. He’s also active in the South Hills Safe Streets group, he said.

“This campaign has fully embraced the fact that we’re a third-party movement outside of the local political establishment,” Mulvaney said. “There are people out there who aren’t super voters who also have concerns and interests and are willing to mobilize.”

He and his supporters will be knocking on doors and meeting with people who live in District 4’s neighborhoods, which include Beechview, Bon Air, Brookline, Carrick, Mt. Washington and Overbrook.

Mulvaney said he believes people deserve good housing, good health care, a clean environment and a promising future — the bedrocks of what the Green Party stands for.

“We have to imagine a better Pittsburgh for ourselves and those that come after us,” he said.

Coghill is finishing his first term on council. Last week, he fended off a challenge from Bethani Cameron in the Democratic primary, winning with 62% of the vote, according to unofficial results.

Coghill has said he approaches serving on city council from the viewpoint of a contractor.

“I’m a contractor by trade. When I came in, I came in with the mentality of a contractor,” said Coghill, the founder of a roofing company. “I need four more years to finish what I started.”

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Copyright ©2021— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

On the anniversary of George Floyd's death, here is a recent press release written by Green Party of Philadelphia GPoP City Committee member Justin Bell reacting to the Derek Chauvin verdict.

I was sitting in traffic today on Roosevelt boulevard when the verdict came in: Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. When I heard it I had trouble processing it. It wasn’t until my wife called me crying because she couldn’t believe it was real, that I started to believe it was real. After I got off I looked around to see if any other cars were listening or having reactions. I was disappointed that everyone looked miserable and wasn’t honking. For a moment I felt victorious. Overwhelmed by the power of the people who refused to get out of the way when the police told them to move. I saw two older ladies flanked by the National Guard during the height of COVID. One pushing the other in a wheelchair. They had put themselves in a situation of great risk and they had won.

Green Party of Philadelphia
May 25, 2021

Yet, almost out of nowhere, I started to feel sadness, as a name I hadn’t thought of in a long time crossed my mind. Sean Bell. In 2006, plainclothes officers fired 50 shots into his car, killing him the night before his wedding. All the officers on site were acquitted. No weapon was ever recovered. I remember just thinking: 50 shots!? It was total overkill--literally. That is the first time I realized that a gun and a badge meant you could get away with murder.

Half-listening, I heard someone on the radio get asked for their reaction to the Chauvin verdict. They attributed the guilty verdict to Darnella Frazier’s excruciating video, shared throughout the world. That made me sad too. It reminded me of Eric Garner. I watched that video dozens of times, holding back tears. How could they choke a man until he died for selling loose cigarettes? That was the first time we heard “I can’t breathe” as a slogan heard round the world associated with the police murder of an African American person. Why hadn’t the video been enough to convict the monsters who took his life?

Chris Robinson, a Green Party member from Philadelphia (Ward 59) explained, "I have been horrified by the number of murders carried out by the police around the U.S. As of May Day, there had only been three days when a cop did not kill someone. During that period, Black citizens were three times more likely to be killed by police than white citizens, and murdered Blacks were more likely than whites to be unarmed. This has got to stop!"

Belinda Davis, chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia, points out that “community control of policing, as advocated by the Green Party of the U.S., has the best prospect of any single measure to meaningfully challenge the rampant murder carried out by police--in the U.S. and beyond.” She adds that, of course, this is only one of a suite of measures that politicians must institute--and that activists must demand.

So, all I’m saying is, enjoy your moment. This verdict has been such a long time coming--but remember this is just one stepping stone. The system of policing has been racist since its inception, so just turning back the clock won’t help: quite the contrary. This requires either abolition or a complete reimagination of police work. This requires politicians who are strong enough to withstand the criticism, and brave enough to listen to protestors, and put forth laws that will actually make people’s lives better.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, May 24, 2021

CONTACT:
Chris Robinson
267-977-0570 and [email protected]  

Green Party of Wayne County, PA, Opposes Fracking

Chris Robinson, a Green Party of Philadelphia member, asked what issues were important to other PA Greens. Below is one response.

By Beverly Beers, chair of Wayne County Green Party.

In response to your question about a concerning issue in my area, I would say that for some time it has been fracking in the Delaware River Basin. We just won a long-standing battle at the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). The DRBC voted on February 25 to ban fracking in the Delaware Basin.

Here is what NPR said, “All four basin states — Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York — voted to ban the practice, citing scientific evidence that fracking has polluted drinking water, surface water, and groundwater. The vote prohibits gas drilling in northeastern PA and southern NY State, where Marcellus Shale gas deposits are limited to about one-third of the basin.” 

I was dismayed, however, to see that the township supervisors of Dyberry, where I live, have joined a lawsuit against DRBC to protect land-owners rights. Similarly, the Wayne County Commissioners voted 2-to-1 to join the same lawsuit. The Tri-County Independent said it was “a rare moment of disagreement” for the commissioners’ vote to be split. Up until 2021, our commissioners have always been Republican businessmen or farmers.

Newly elected Commissioner Jocelyn Cramer cast the dissenting vote. Last year, Green Party members helped elect Joss as commissioner. (She won by just 10 votes.) I believe she is the first woman commissioner and has stated her belief in preserving the natural beauty of our area. In fact, Joss now calls herself “the environmental commissioner.”

This area has traditionally been a farming and dairy area, though Wayne County is becoming more and more a tourist destination. So there is an economic argument to oppose fracking, as well as health reasons. As you probably realize, many struggling farmers hope to get money from fracking leases on their land. My own family has lived in Dyberry for 6 generations, though I am not actively engaged in farming at present. As a member of the Green Party and a constituent of Dyberry township, I do not feel the supervisors’ or the commissioners’ decision represents myself or others who wish to preserve the Delaware River Basin.

The Green Party of Wayne County meets at 3:00 pm on the last Saturday of each month. You may learn more right here,   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1838621106461397/about. 

For more information, please see:

“Wayne Commissioners Vote to Join Suit against DRBC” by David Mazzenga, Tri-County Independent, January 30, 2021, https://www.tricountyindependent.com/story/news/2021/01/30/fracking-suit-against-drbc-divides-wayne-county-board-commissioners/4307597001/; 

“Delaware River Basin Commission Votes to Ban Fracking in the Watershed” by Susan Phillips, State Impact PA, February 25, 2021, https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2021/02/25/delaware-river-basin-commission-votes-to-ban-fracking-in-the-watershed/; 

“PA Greens Push for an End to Fracking” by Matt Nemeth, Green Party of PA News Release, October 4, 2020, https://www.gp.org/pa_greens_push_for_an_end_to_fracking; and 

“Pennsylvania and Fracking,” Global Energy Monitor, April 30, 2021, https://www.gem.wiki/Pennsylvania_and_fracking

Green Party Welcomes Voters Exploited by Scandals of the Democratic and Republican Establishment