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Protesters Pushing Sen. Schumer to Support Green New Deal Arrested in New York

HeadlineMay 01, 2019

And in New York City, police arrested seven nonviolent protesters Tuesday as they peacefully blocked access to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer’s Manhattan office. The youth activists with the Sunrise Movement are calling on the Senate Minority Leader to endorse the Green New Deal, a resolution calling for a transformation of the U.S. economy by funding renewable energy while ending U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

Youth activist: “I’m willing to get arrested and put my body on the line for the Green New Deal, because it means the bodies of all of the people who are being affected by the climate crisis. We are here demanding that Senator Schumer sign on to a Green New Deal. Stand with us, Chuck Schumer.”

Sunrise Movement leaders have asked Senator Schumer to convene town hall meetings to discuss his climate plan, but say their requests have been rebuffed or ignored. This is Aracely Jimenez, a resident of Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.

Aracely Jimenez: “I have lived in Sunset Park since I was 4 years old. It is a low-income, immigrant community of color. And it was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. So I have seen what the climate crisis is going to do, what it’s already doing to communities like mine all across this planet. And when our Senate minority leader refuses to co-sponsor the only plan on the table that is going to address the crisis at the scale that science and justice demand, then that is unacceptable. I will not stand for it, and neither should you!”

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