“Let all of our deliberations be made with the seventh generation in mind”. Haudenosaunee Guiding Principle
On March 7th, the Oakland City Council nearly voted to end its banking relationship with JPMorgan Chase, one of the principal financiers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the private prison industry, and the foreclosure crisis. Since then, Defenders of Mother Earth-Huichin has been working to introduce an amendment to Oakland’s Linked Banking Services Ordinance that will prohibit the City from banking with Chase and other institutions that benefit from violations of indigenous sovereignty, climate chaos, and mass incarceration.
On June 13th, our proposed amendments will go to the Oakland Finance Committee Meeting. Let’s make Oakland #NextToDivest!
Now is the time to invite in our city representatives to stand in solidarity and integrity with the Chochenyo Ohlone (the first people of Huichin/Oakland), with indigenous people across the continent, with their own resolutions, and with the people of Oakland and future generations: #DefundDAPL and end our relationship with JPMorgan Chase! #Divest from ongoing violations of indigenous sovereignty and climate chaos, and #Reinvest in native leadership, community resilience, and restorative economies! #MniWiconi
3 ways YOU can support:
TURN OUT! Join us on June 6th at 5pm in front of City Hall to gather our hearts and minds together in ceremony before making our voices heard at the City Council meeting. Then TURN OUT for the Finance Committee meeting on June 13th at 9:30am to support our proposed amendments!https://www.facebook.com/events/436803196691923 [More details on how to sign up to speak at the Council meeting coming soon]
SEND AND SHARE! Send the attached letter of support to Councilmembers on the Finance Committee expressing your support for our amendments. Then share your letter with friends! [TEMPLATE LETTER COMING SOON]
CALL THE COUNCIL! Call these councilmembers and flood their phone lines with messages of support! [PHONE SCRIPT COMING SOON]
As the City Council deliberates about where to invest our community assets, we invite their deep consideration of the following:
The Dakota Access Pipeline is yet another in a long list of violent violations of Native sovereignty for the sake of profit. We call upon the City of Oakland to stand in solidarity with Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Lakota Nations, all indigenous people, and all lifeforms hoping to inhabit a livable planet by ending their relationships with financial institutions that fund the Dakota Access Pipeline and similar fossil fuel pipelines.
By keeping depository accounts in JP Morgan Chase, the City has made all of its taxpayers complicit in violence against the Lakota and other Indigenous peoples. When Oakland residents pay taxes, those funds are held in J.P. Morgan Chase, who can use them to make a profit in whatever way they see fit.
JP Morgan Chase is among 26 banks profiting from the Dakota Access Pipeline, and is thus profiting from the violation of U.S. Treaties and the eventual poisoning of drinking water for millions of people. Chase Bank alone has invested $312,500,000 in the company that is carrying out the project, Energy Transfer Partners.
JP Morgan Chase’s record of abuse extends beyond the Native community and the planet. It is one of the most avid lenders to private prison industry leaders, CCA and GEO Group, hence playing a crucial role in the exacerbation of mass incarceration of immigrants and people of color, which directly affects the people of Oakland. JPMorgan Chase also agreed to a $55 million settlement with the United States government over allegations that it discriminated against “thousands” of African American and Latino mortgage borrowers, and the bank’s independent brokers charged minority borrowers higher mortgage interest rates and fees from 2006 to 2009, compared to “similarly situated white borrowers.”
Oakland’s money should not be used to support these multiple forms of violence and furthering of inequities. It should be used to support community. Oakland has an abundance of financial institutions that are committed to lifting up all members of our city. The City could support these institutions with no cost and low risk by keeping their deposits in aligned institutions instead of extractive banks.
We call upon the City of Oakland to:
1. Close all current depository accounts with JP Morgan Chase.
2. Refuse to open a depository account with any of the 26 banks that invest in, lend to, or otherwise profit from the Dakota Access Pipeline, and/or whose investments negatively impact Indigenous Sovereignty.
3. Open depository accounts at local community-based financial institutions.
4. Continue working toward the creation of banking alternatives aligned with indigenous values.
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