D.C. is a mess; our State government is almost as bad. But what if we could create true equity at home, here in Santa Fe? Let’s create the kind of city that works for everyone, that achieves true social and economic justice. Chainbreaker’s Equity Summer begins later this month. Join us in supporting their campaign.
We’ve written before about an emerging partnership that will span neighborhoods, cultures, incomes, languages, and ages, a partnership that can unify this city around a noble goal: equity. Chainbreaker will announce its Equity Summer plan on June 19. By way of preview: Chainbreaker has been fighting for the rights or our most under-served populations for 13 years. They have formed close relationships with other activist organizations like Somos Un Pueblo Unido, Santa Fe Dreamers, Earth Care, YouthWorks, and New Energy Economy. In the last month, Retake, Indivisible, and Democratic Socialists of America have entered into the conversation. And a plan for these organizations to coalesce around Chainbreaker’s Equity Summer campaign and its People’s Platform is unfolding.
For 18 months, Chainbreaker has been conducting ground-breaking research on community development. At the same time they have conducted an extended listening campaign that has included door-to-door canvassing in their communities, on the buses, and on the streets, as well as community meetings to discuss community needs and to develop a set of priorities. They have sought urban solutions that respond to what they have heard and that have been tested in other communities. And they have a plan that will be launched June 19 with Equity Summer.
Chainbreaker has a remarkable report outlining the state of equity in Santa Fe, and the bad news is equity is non-existent here. To review this report click here: HIA-report-Final . It will take an hour to read carefully, but in five minutes reviewing the charts you will get the picture. It not only describes Santa Fe’s segregation by ethnicity, age, and income, it identifies a history of the city investing more heavily in the downtown and other wealthier neighborhoods, rather than those communities that are low-income and more heavily Hispanic. It is shameful that a community that is so progressive and so committed to many forms of social, economic, and environmental justice can tolerate this injustice. But there is something we can do.
We are all tired of the insulting tweets, GOP greed, mindless aggression, and inhuman budgets, tax plans, and health plans. I read the online news and feel like I need to take a shower to shed the moral grime. And in truth, I am not much happier with the Democratic Party on a national level. Where is the inspiration? Where is the vision of a better America? But in Santa Fe we live in a progressive city with an election looming and a plan emerging, focusing on equity. With a summer of canvassing, house parties, town halls, community meetings, and panel discussions we will fully engage, educate, organize and activate our community. During these meetings we will use Chainbreaker’s People’s Platform as a starting point, (click here 2017 people’s platform) and through a participatory process we will identify any missing elements and forge a platform behind which the entire city can unify. With the partnership described above organizing throughout the City, we can engage our entire community with the result being a community unified behind a specific policy platform designed to achieve equity.
The entire nation has struggled with gentrification, growing income disparity, and racial segregation and injustice. Santa Fe has not escaped this national trend, but we are small enough, progressive enough, and now perhaps united enough to get it right in Santa Fe. This is something to inspire us. Retake Our Democracy will kick off our effort to support Equity Summer on June 25, 3-5pm, at the Center for Progress & Justice in Santa Fe. Click here to RSVP. If you’re not on FB, email Paul at paul@retakeourdemocracy.org to RSVP.
In solidarity,
Paul & Roxanne
Categories: Economic justice
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