On December 22, Idle No More SF Bay members and their allies sang some special Christmas carols at the Marin County home of California Governor-Elect Governor Gavin Newsom.
The lyrics in the songs asked Newson to make “courageous decisions on a survivable climate,” including stopping the oil drilling expansion, carbon trading program and Delta Tunnels project of Governor Jerry Brown, as well as opposing the federal Shasta Dam raise.
As they were caroling, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Newsom’s wife and a prominent filmmaker, asked her driver to stop the SUV she was riding in down the driveway and got out of the car to talk to the carolers. She talked with Alison Ehara-Brown and Dr. Melinda Micco from Idle No More SF Bay and the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty. Siebel Newson explained that Gavin Newson was at a funeral at the time.
Siebel Newson began singing the Little Drummer Boy with the revised lyrics along with the carolers after she was invited to do so. Here are some of the lyrics, written by Ehara-Brown, Maria De Lime Dorsey, Amanda Bloom and Amy Hutto:
Come we’re calling, pa rum pa pum pum
to our new future governor pa rum pa pum pum
We pray you’ll do the right thing pa rum pa pum pum
And bring much needed change pa rum pa pum pum
We’ve come to meet you, pa rum pa pum pum Welcome!!
Gavin Newsom, pa rum pa pum pum
Are you gonna do something? pa rum pa pum pum
Join us to make a bright way pa rum pa pum pum
California needs to start today
Today, today, today
Fossil free California, It’s possible
We’re so excited to see what you’ll bring
Apparently so much we’ve come to sing
No new fracking wells, or refineries
To keep the future for everybody
For everybody, For everybody
You can view a video of Siebel Newson singing with the carolers here: https://www.facebook.com/INMSolidaritySF/videos/458628621333939/
After singing the song, Siebel Newson said she had to go. Before leaving, she shook the hand of each caroler and thanked them for coming and singing.
After the group completed caroling, Ehara-Brown said, “We’re delighted that she stopped the car and stepped out to welcome us and then sang with us. She seemed very interested in working with us on the common goal of stopping climate chaos. We’re looking at the new Governor to transition off fossil fuels and end Jerry Brown’s false climate solutions.”
“At this point, we’re very hopeful that the governor will be thinking about his children and their future,” she concluded.
“I was really glad we were able to meet with Governor Newsom’s wife and she was willing to sing with us and appeared to really understand our message, “ said Isabella Zizi, also of Idle No More SF Bay Area.
“It’s a step in the right direction to listen to front line and indigenous communities,” noted Noemi Aidee Tungüi, formerly of Food and Water Watch, and Bay Area activist. “I’m glad she engaged in a healthy conversation and I hope we have more of these healthy conversations. It’s important to see elected as human beings breathing the same air that we breathe”
On December 19, the group sent a letter to Newsom expressing their condolences on the loss of his father. They said that they would be caroling at his house on December 22 and would love to meet him and his family. The urged Newson to take a strong stand on a “just transition” to fossil fuels, in contrast with Brown, who oversaw the approval of 21,000 new oil and gas drilling permits in the state during his administration.
The letter stated, “We understand that Governor Brown believes that he has been a climate leader, and agree that he was able to do some good things that are mitigating climate disruption. However, he didn’t go nearly far enough. Given the latest UN IPCC Climate Report and the Federal Climate Report that was issued on Black Friday, we understand that in order for humanity to survive we need a courageous governor who will be a real climate leader. We believe that person is you.”
They discussed the harm caused by the the fossil fuel industry to frontline and indigenous communities ranging from the refinery corridor in the Northeast San Francisco Bay Area to the Amazon.
“Many of us live along the refinery corridor in the Northeast San Francisco Bay. We have experienced the harms committed by these refineries to our community and family members. We also have friends and relatives who live in the Arctic, the Amazon, the Niger Delta, and near fracking sites in California, Oklahoma and North Dakota. We understand that devastation to our planet is the same as devastation to our health. We know that we only have 12 years to cut carbon pollution by 45%. We believe that you can be the governor who paves the way to a safe and sustainable future. We are here to support you, stand by you, and encourage others to stand with us as you become a courageous leader who commits to real climate leadership and a just transition off of fossil fuels,” they wrote.
Newsom will take his oath of office, becoming California’s 40th governor, at 11 a.m. on January 7, 2019.
Here is the complete letter:
December 19, 2018 Dear Governor Newsom,
We send our condolences for the loss of your father. We understand that this is a difficult time. We have been planning something special for you and your family for some time and hope that this will bring a bit of relief to your sorrow.
We will be caroling at your home on December 22nd at 2:00pm and would love to meet you and your family.
We are Idle No More SF Bay (www.idlenomoresfbay.org). We are a group of volunteer Native Americans and allies who stand for clean air, water, soil and a vibrantly healthy world for life in perpetuity. All the
Indigenous women of Idle No More SF Bay are signatories on the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty (www.indigenouswomenrising.org).
We understand that Governor Brown believes that he has been a climate leader, and agree that he was able to do some good things that are mitigating climate disruption. However, he didn’t go nearly far enough. Given the latest UN IPCC Climate Report and the Federal Climate Report that was issued on Black Friday, we understand that in order for humanity to survive we need a courageous governor who will be a real climate leader. We believe that person is you.
Many of us live along the refinery corridor in the Northeast San Francisco Bay. We have experienced the harms committed by these refineries to our community and family members. We also have friends and relatives who live in the Arctic, the Amazon, the Niger Delta, and near fracking sites in California, Oklahoma and North Dakota. We understand that devastation to our planet is the same as devastation to our health. We know that we only have 12 years to cut carbon pollution by 45%. We believe that you can be the governor who paves the way to a safe and sustainable future. We are here to support you, stand by you, and encourage others to stand with us as you become a courageous leader who commits to real climate leadership and a just transition off of fossil fuels.
As mentioned, the Indigenous women of Idle No More SF Bay are signatories on the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty. Additional signatories on the Treaty include women from as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far South as Peru. This is a treaty between the nations of Indigenous women who are concerned by what we see happening in the world that is destroying the system of life that we all need to simply survive. This includes Treaty sisters who live traditionally and sustainably in the Amazon rainforest, women whose traditional territory is in the middle of the Bakken fracking fields in North Dakota, women whose traditional territory has been devastated by tar sands destruction in Alberta, Canada, and women of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, which is the epicenter of the fracking industry created earthquakes and has an average of one tribal member dying from cancers and autoimmune diseases per month since fracking began in their territory. All of their water is poisoned, and men can no longer rely on hunting or fishing to feed their families. We understand the harms the fossil fuel industry is perpetrating upon people around the world, including our own communities here in the Bay Area. We also understand that carbon offsets are not a solution to climate change and actively harm both Indigenous communities as well as our local refinery communities.
Idle No More SF Bay organized the Connect the Dots Refinery Corridor Healing Walks from 2014 through 2017. This was a series of four walks each year for four years to connect one fossil fuel-impacted community to another along the refinery corridor in the Northeast San Francisco Bay. There were over 1,100 walkers who joined us for these walks that were between 9 and 14 miles long. Not an insignificant commitment.
We want you to know us. We want you to understand that we are educated about the harms being caused by the fossil fuel industry to people, lands and the climate. We put our trust in you as our new governor to make the hard decisions during this time that must include acknowledging the tenuous period in which we find ourselves where elected officials are called upon to make decisions that will impact the future of generations to come. We all know that the use of fossil fuels must end immediately for our survival. We understand that is why fossil fuel corporations are extracting the most difficult and costly fossil fuels in order increase their profits without regard for life. Imagine passing laws which encourage them to transition sooner, rather than later, to a fossil free business plan. Imagine standing with communities like ours for a just transition off fossil fuels and quite literally saving the world. We are committed to that work of saving life on Earth and look forward to you working with us.
We hope you and your family will join us at your home on December 22nd. We will be caroling on the street where your home is. We have re-written these songs to share with you what we hold most dear and our hopes and dreams for the transformation of our society. We look forward to sharing our expression of gratitude with you and your family and celebrating our way forward together. If you would like to know more about us please contact Contra Costa County Supervisor and Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board Member John Gioia (510) 701-4477.
Respectfully,
Idle No More SF Bay
Dr. Melinda Micco, PhD
Alison Ehara-Brown, MSW, LCSW