We wanted to share some exciting news.
Today, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that he would be opening a consumer fraud case against Big Polluters including Exxon and Koch Industries. This is a tremendous step forward in the growing movement to hold Big Polluters financially and legally liable for the damages they knowingly caused (and cause).
This announcement came in the wake of AG Ellison’s office taking over as prosecutor for the case against the police officer who killed George Floyd, and adding more serious charges against the four officers involved in Floyd’s death.
We must confront and dismantle the white-supremacist systems that consolidate power in the hands of so few, and oppress so many. It is these systems that allow state sanctioned violence against Black people with little fear of accountability or consequence. It is these racist systems that allow oil and gas corporations to extract resources — especially from Black, brown, and Indigenous frontline communities — and fuel the profoundly dangerous climate crisis so these corporations can rake in billions in profits. These systems allow corporations to devastate democracy, trample human rights, and destroy the planet with impunity. They are literally destroying us. And unless we all do something about it, those systems will continue on.
We are at a turning point. Millions of people are rising up and demanding new and just systems that are centered on ending state sanctioned violence and defunding the police. Globally, people are demanding that Big Polluters pay for climate damages and a just transition. AG Ellison is taking a step in the right direction and it’s important that we show him support. Write to his office now and let him know you appreciate his leadership on racial and climate justice, and urge him to continue pushing for justice for the family of George Floyd, and for Black liberation in Minnesota.
