Run Toward the Fight
Run toward the fight. It is a sentiment of war and is often quoted by the marine corps and other military groups. I believe it is now time for humanity to run toward the fight against the pending environmental crisis.
Grant Brown, Founder, Happy Eco News
The phrase run toward the fight first caught my attention when I watched a young woman interviewed on the popular public television show, Finding your Roots. She spoke of her ancestors’ fight to free enslaved African-Americans during the American civil war. Her own great, great grand-uncles themselves, having recently been freed from slavery, joined the North in a fight to free others who were still, under the law, owned by other humans. Both brothers died fighting that fight, leaving only the youngest of the three brothers – her great-great-grandfather.
The woman I saw interviewed was Brittany P. Cunningham, co-founder of Campaign Zero – a police reform campaign to demilitarize and reduce police violence, along with many other notable achievements. On the show, Ms. Cunningham spoke of her ancestors as those who would “run toward the fight” instead of fleeing or hiding. Like her brave ancestors, she herself is also one of those who would run toward the fight.
I find it remarkable and heartening to see how many young people, like Ms. Cunningham, those who run toward the fight. They do it instinctively, despite personal suffering or maybe even the ultimate sacrifice. While I am focussed on environmental issues, I understand how closely related the environmental movement is to social justice. They are one and the same. The people who benefit from oppressing people of colour also benefit from the continued degradation of the planet and her ecosystems.
I find it encouraging that so many of these young people who run toward the fight are people who identify as women, people of colour or both. It is not lost on me that some of the most oppressed people in the world with the least power to make change are women and children. Now, finally, their sisters from other places say enough is enough forcing the world to recognise the injustice inflicted upon people in a world they did not make and cannot change. It is time for action, and these young people step up.
Too many decades have passed with old grey men in suits running the world for their own selfish gain and egos. One only needs to look around and see the state of the world to see what these so-called “leaders” have achieved; war, enslavement, racial injustice, militarized police, and ecocide have all run rampant under their rule. It is time for a change, and it appears the new leaders are young, smart and motivated. With their backs to the proverbial wall, they have no choice. In desperation, and because of their access to information and determination, they have become a force to be reckoned with.
Humanity will continue down the path of transformation of our energy systems because we have to. But we are also in the beginnings of the transformation of our economy and our society. As evidenced by recent election results in places like Australia, not only will we transform energy, but we will also transform and transition away from the leaders who serve only themselves to those who serve us all.
I applaud and support the young people of all genders and races who stand up and take on the challenge, the ones who run toward the fight.
