The youth climate activist collective known as the Sunrise Movement has begun protesting outside the homes of politicians they hold responsible for the “death economy” of rising climate, racial, and economic injustice. The “Wide Awake” campaign is inspired by the Wide Awakes, a militant youth abolitionist organization in the years leading into the Civil War.
We are Wide Awake. And, for the next hundred days, the architects of this death economy will be too.
This is not just an uprising, it’s a mothafucking haunting. We will march to their homes at midnight so they understand that we are wide awake to their role in crafting this nightmare. When they try to dine at restaurants we’re forced to work at — despite the risk of COVID — because our unemployment is ending, we will not serve them. When they do nothing to stop federal agents from snatching us off the streets, when they force us to go back to school in unsafe conditions, when they do nothing to stop our democracy from crumbling, we will bang on their doors from dusk until dawn and make them hear us. We will make their lives a waking nightmare until they stand with us or give way to the power of the people and the vision we have for a new world.
“Wide Awake” actions so far include:
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August 20: U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr
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August 17: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
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August 17: Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
No justice, no sleep @SenatorBurr pic.twitter.com/OUjuEmt2Fx
— Sunrise Durham 🌅 (@SunriseDurham) August 17, 2020
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August 14: Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson
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August 14: Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.)
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August 14: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
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August 13: Gov. Tim Walz (R-Minn.)
Sunrise Twin Cities is outside @GovTimWalz’s house keeping him awake with pots, pans, drums, and chanting, demanding action to block the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline pic.twitter.com/9MZCWjnKav
— The Mac Weekly (@themacweekly) August 14, 2020
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August 11: Calif. State Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg (D-San Fernando)
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July 17: Providence Mayor Jorge Elonza