March in Davis for Standing Rock Divestment Action Friday, April 14 at 11:30am
The Standing Rock Divestment Action Group (SRDAG) of Davis invites all to take part in a “Break Up with Your Megabank” march on Friday, April 14. Participants will gather at 11:30 a.m. in Central Park, near 4th and C St.
At about noon, the group will walk to the nearby downtown branch offices of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and JPMorgan Chase. Marchers will be joined by several individuals who have pledged to close their accounts with these banks. Participants can bring their own signs. Some sign-making supplies will be available at Central Park.
The goal of the march is to draw attention to the role of large banks in financing fossil fuel infrastructure and to encourage individual citizens to move their bank accounts to local or online banks and credit unions. Partly in response to SRDAG members’ testimony before the Davis City Council in January, and partly to follow its own moral path, the City of Davis voted to begin the process of divesting from Wells Fargo in February. Davis Enterprise story on Davis City Council divestment decision.
Davis follows Seattle in choosing the path of divestment. Read more about the movement that is gaining traction across the country in this Common Dreams essay.
The banks targeted in this march are among those financing the recently completed Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which this month has begun carrying crude oil from North Dakota oil fields to a port facility in Illinois.
Over the past year, the DAPL has become a symbol of environmental racism, violation of indigenous treaty rights and sacred ground, and human rights abuses; and the protest camps near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation became the site of the biggest protest of fossil fuel infrastructure in American history.
If you can’t make the march protest, you can still participate. Look at your own bank and decide if you need to change to a local bank, a credit union, or a green bank. This article by UCD Graduate student Beth Grahm and Francisco Dominguez describes the steps you can take if your bank is on the list of those funding projects like DAPL! Align your Money with your Values
“For further information, contact Stu Pettygrove or Nick Buxton at standingrockdavis@gmail.com”
Yolano Climate Action Central 