History teaches us the harsh lessons of how Europeans colonized the rest of the world world and enslaved Africans and indigenous people to exploit the lands they took.
The impulse among many European-Americans still is to first discern how a situation can benefit them. Within the Age of Climate Change, that perspective has become tragic and deadly.
European-Americans need to learn how to play nice with others. Third-world people sat down with some of white people and hammered what has become known as the Jemez Principles.
On December 6-8, 1996, forty people of color and European-American representatives met in Jemez, New Mexico, for the “Working Group Meeting on Globalization and Trade” to hammer out common understandings how participants from different cultures, politics and organizations could work together.
The Jemez Principles are a guidance to mainstream (mostly white) organizations who want to work in low income and people of color communities. We encourage the adoption of Jemez Principles by every and all climate organizations to become more equitable, just, and inclusive.
Follow this link to read the Jemez Principles.
We must learn from history that violence does not work. Those who use it become what they oppose. Rev. Martin Luther King preached and practiced violence. Read his principles of non-violence here.