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By: Ebony Flowers – a community activist + the 2nd Vice-Chair to Climate Reality Upstate.

I woke up to waist-deep water, no power + shouting from our neighbors. The media called it, “The Historic Flood of 2015.” We called it the day the water came for us. Before this “Historic Flood,” we saw the changes in the air, water, and soil. The Gullah Geechee people span across the coastline of the Southern United States, from South Carolina to Florida. We are descendants of enslaved Central + West Africans that created insulated coastal and island communities. Culture and necessity made us one with the land.

We used the land as a resource for food, art, and capital. We have maintained a strong + rich culture that was once shunned by many, but now many seek. When we experience extreme catastrophic flooding or storms like Hurricane Matthew, we don’t use the words “Climate Change,” nor are we are attending meetings with an environmentalist to strategize. We have been living this crisis day by day. Fighting through one disaster to the next while watching family + friends lose their homes and lives. The Climate Crisis is not a future problem for communities of color, it is a NOW problem. Many communities of color, like mine, have long been living on the front lines of the consequences of the climate crisis. Every year there is a report of storms ravaging the coast or polluting industries that release toxic chemicals in our atmosphere. Studies show that due to structural inequities based on race, our communities continue to be impacted harder and earlier than other areas. After an extreme weather event, communities of color have fewer resources available to evacuate and often are displaced for long periods long after the storm waters have receded.

How many more major catastrophic storms must ravage our state impacting our infrastructure, impacting our jobs for real positive system change to occur? The Gullah Geechee people have suffered at the hand of the rising tide for too long. The good people of South Carolina, our neighbors, have faced major catastrophic storms again and again. How do we fix this? How do we ensure a long prosperous, job filled future for all of South Carolina? We must stand together. We must demand action to protect our homes, to protect our jobs, and to protect the future for our children.

This is my rallying cry to Greenville, S.C., my home away from home. Our community is at a crossroads. As our fellow humans on this planet gather en masse on Friday, September 20 ahead of the Climate Summit on Monday, September 23 in NYC., people from all backgrounds will come together to demand action from our elected officials. We must stand together in unity and demand action.

Join me Friday, Sept. 20, downtown Greenville at City Hall at noon.

To learn more + to RSVP, please visit http://www.strikewithus.org.