The Newtown Creek Alliance stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and against systemic racism and police brutality. We stand with protesters to demand change for our communities and seek to raise up Black voices calling for justice. The Newtown Creek Alliance has always aimed to address the environmental devastation and the resulting impacts on human and ecological health centered around our waterway. We acknowledge that the same systems that have allowed for the extraction of wealth, sickening of local workers and residents, and the poisoning of our land, water, and air are inextricably tied with systems of racial and economic oppression.
As we fight to relieve harmful environmental and human health burdens (such as sewage pollution; historic industrial contamination; excessive truck traffic and poor air quality; lack of open/green space; and the displacement of culture and community identity due to gentrification), we acknowledge that we must do more within our organization to support, uplift, and center leadership and engagement from communities of color that we serve and who are most acutely impacted by these issues.
Ongoing racial oppression and over-policing demand urgent collective action. In years past, we have seen our waterway and the communities surrounding it neglected of investment and funding that could otherwise curtail pollution, protect human health, provide open space, improve ecological conditions, and prepare for sea-level rise. Now the proposed NYC budget cuts, stemming from the COVID-19 crisis, are targeting programs like summer youth employment, organics collection, and park maintenance – all critical to the physical and mental health of our communities and our ability to address the looming climate crisis. All this, amidst nominal changes to a $6 billion NYPD budget that will only serve to exacerbate racism and environmental injustice. To this end, we join our partners at the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and others in demanding the City reduce the budget for NYPD and direct funds to benefit Black communities and communities of color by providing services such as education, healthcare, housing, climate change and pollution mitigation, and green jobs. Click here for an easy way for you to do the same.
– NCA Staff and Board