EGA President and CEO
As a community focused on our earth home, we are challenged, in these times, to actively connect and reconnect our goals for people and planet to the habits of democracy.
Nearly two weeks ago, Section 740 of the Home Rule Act was used by the executive branch to deploy the National Guard in Washington D.C. to facilitate the take over of the District police force. The Act was created in 1973, under President Richard Nixon, to distinguish authority amongst jurisdictions and includes emergency power for the purpose of quelling large-scale urban riots.
The presidential claim of a “crime emergency” comes at a time when crime rates are trending downward in the District. Clearly, the executive branch is seeking a fig leaf or excuse to expand constitutional attacks on the hard-won liberties of our union. Each act of aggression has targeted vulnerable people and pushes them into institutionalization.
These acts in federal territory are significant because the District is a legal fiction, with real people living their lives in a place made from forced labor and political decisions. It has no statehood or Congressional representation. Moreover, the actions normalize undemocratic decision taking that harms community and attacks us all. This activity is a test which measures our collective appetite for similar overreach across the nation.
As a constitutionally protected association, we are clear on our mission’s focus on people and planet and a democracy that sustains it. EGA denounces executive action to usurp existing authority and the will of the people.
Today’s threat to liberty is a generational threat to us all. History teaches us that executive usurpation is rarely an effective strategy for community safety. Further, the facts, assertions and the overtly racist impacts directly contradict the principles and agreements of our union as United States. As resource gatherers working in support of seed savers, carbon budgeters, civic infrastructure stewards and water and wilderness protectors it matters to philanthropy that the social contract is being worn down by this campaign.
And further, it is our collective duty to hold the standard for our generation. If we stand in truth, that necessitates that we recognize, speak to, and act in defense of our planet by building, bolstering, and bearing the weight of a system in need.
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