At the first Democratic presidential debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked the candidates to name the greatest national security threat to the United States. Bernie Sanders’ answer was climate change, and if you’re willing to investigate his website, you’ll find it addressed everywhere, including under “Racial Justice,” where he decries “environmental violence being inflicted on people of color.”
Sanders certainly isn’t the only progressive to argue that racism and climate change are intertwined. You might not have known that climate activists are currently observing Break Free, a “two-week global wave of escalated action to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground.”
On Saturday, protesters in Albany, N.Y., united to stop the bomb train, “the presence of which is an act of environmental racism, class prejudice, and an illegal breach of the public trust.” What’s a “bomb train”? It’s a train carrying explosive crude oil, often through residential areas.
More than 1,000 pose for mass photo prior to oil train March #Albany2016 pic.twitter.com/ctTQGcMgKH
— Stephen Williams (@gazettesteve) May 14, 2016
Breaking free from fossil fuels @BanBombTrains #Albany2016 pic.twitter.com/vDBbBmeWEK
— Vanessa Rule (@VanessaLRule) May 14, 2016
Albany Break Free @BanBombTrains #Albany2016 #breakfree2016 @RossHammondSF pic.twitter.com/oIiYYaSwfu
— Justin Mikulka (@JustinMikulka) May 14, 2016
NO OIL TRAINS THROUGH ALBANY TODAY! Hundreds risk arrest and occupy the tracks for #BreakFree2016 pic.twitter.com/Xr71Eeqpat
— Break Free (@BanBombTrains) May 14, 2016
Hundreds block the tracks as thousands cheer: Albany NY says NO to bomb trains & dirty energy #breakfree2016 pic.twitter.com/F07WhEXOJe
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) May 14, 2016
Breaking: 100s block Albany Port oil train tracks-call on Fossil fuel industry to #KeepItInTheGround #BreakFree2016 pic.twitter.com/vEn8v4gdhZ
— Revolution News (@NewsRevo) May 14, 2016
Bomb train tracks occupied by entire march in Albany: leave it in the ground! @BanBombTrains @350 #breakfree2016 pic.twitter.com/v2sfOQaZO5
— Michael Kink (@mkink) May 14, 2016
No bomb trains rolling today in Albany – no way no how! #breakfree2016 #Albany2016 @BanBombTrains @citizenactionny pic.twitter.com/VBpVsCPlVo
— Michael Kink (@mkink) May 14, 2016
What a sight at #breakfreealbany! (pc: Anthony Torres) #breakfree2016 #keepitintheground pic.twitter.com/nzPep30UL3
— Maria Langholz (@MariaLangholz) May 14, 2016
It’s funny how there are so many photos of protesters blocking the train, yet no pictures of a train being blocked.
Tracks at Port of Albany occupied for last hour. Mysteriously, there are no trains anywhere in sight. #Albany2016 pic.twitter.com/8uwR2Tjtah
— Stephen Williams (@gazettesteve) May 14, 2016
Something tells us none of these “Keep It in the Ground” protesters blocking the bomb train fought for the Keystone XL pipeline as a safer compromise, though.
#breakfree2016 #albany2016 dancing on the tracks. No bomb trains today!!!!! Yay pic.twitter.com/POsIJ84V5k
— Paula Rogovin (@PaulaRogovin) May 14, 2016
He or she wasn’t in Albany, but we’d feel terrible if we didn’t give some exposure to the rarely sighted Fracked Gas Goblin, who popped up in the Pacific Northwest in white tube socks to steal Bigfoot’s thunder.
Fracked gas goblin talking to the Sheriff #BreakFreePNW #breakfree2016 #keepitintheground #MFleet pic.twitter.com/GfhaLU5Pma
— Mosquito Fleet (@mosquitoFLT) May 14, 2016
Protesters there actually erected tents (perhaps purchased secondhand on eBay from Occupy Wall Street alumni) on the train tracks.
#BreakFreePNW how F ing stupid do these douche bags look pic.twitter.com/UZw8A03t7M
— Scott (@caveman313131) May 14, 2016
Related:
‘A reckless endangerment of thousands’: Oil train protesters block tracks in Seattle
Mike Brown protesters on tracks claim to ‘stop’ commuter train en route to Patriots game
#BlackLivesMatter protesters block commuter train, demand end to slave labor at Target Field
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