Our coalition lifts up and echoes our coalition members’ statements and calls for justice in response to the recent killing of Patrick Lyoya, a Black man and immigrant to Grand Rapids, by a GRPD police officer.
We decry racial injustice in policing and everywhere else it exists. We recognize that the racial justice crisis and the climate crisis share the same roots: a disregard for and undervaluing of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) around the world. This is why we have an explicit priority and concern for the most vulnerable people in our community. Racial injustice and white supremacy in any form is incompatible with climate justice.
As a multiracial, broad based coalition, we protest the racial bias in policing that our community members have been exposing and warning about for years—and that has now killed a member of the Grand Rapids community. We share the outrage and stand in solidarity with everyone traumatized by this killing in our community.
We will continue to work for a more just and equitable Grand Rapids in partnership with our coalition member organizations representing BIPOC communities. We recognize and seek to center their leadership as together we call for immediate and systemic change.