Norfolk, Virginia: Divest From Violence: Rally and Letter Delivery for a Livable Future
Norfolk, Virginia
Divest From Violence: Rally and Letter Delivery for a Livable Future
By Kim Williams, action coordinator
On September 26th, residents of Norfolk, Virginia, took action in solidarity with the Campaign Nonviolence “Divest From Violence” Day. Members of the Norfolk Catholic Worker community and Pax Christi Hampton Roads held an hour-long rally in front of neighboring branches of both Wells Fargo and Bank of America on the aptly named Colonial Avenue, a calm intersection in a small city.
As cars stopped at the light, pedestrians from a nearby high school and Old Dominion University sauntered by on lunch break. Quite a few people, especially younger people, stopped to chat or to receive a flier that explained the violence of the banks’ financial underwriting of the twin existential threats of US-based nuclear weapons and new fossil fuel infrastructure. Two fossil fuel projects of concern are the Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Virginia Reliability Project. If finished, these two proposed (massive) fracked gas pipeline projects would shackle Virginia (and the planet) to 40 years more of fossil fuel dependency and delay the transition to clean energy.
Most of our group could be considered "retirement age.” Many of us are parents and grandparents who are concerned by what kind of planet we will leave for all children. In addition, two young university students paused as they walked by to stand in solidarity with us for some of the hour.
Towards the end of the rally, two persons from our group attempted to deliver a letter to the CEOs of each bank branch. The letter called on them to morally wake up, to stop funding violence and to make investments in clean energy. The manager of the Wells Fargo branch graciously received the letter in-person and promised to send it to CEO Charles Scharf. The attempt to deliver a similar letter for Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was rebuffed by security guards.
We shared food-for-thought: citizens should have a voice in what is done with their money. We, the United States, could easily find the financial resources needed to do our part to ensure a habitable planet by transitioning to clean energy if we, as a nation, divest from nuclear weapons. We have what we need to build a culture of care for the earth, for people, for all of Creation. We, as elders, are affirmed in our understanding that this is the hope and dream of young people in our community.
This action was part of Campaign Nonviolence’s September 26th focus “Divest From Violence”, calling upon people to take action to divest banks, colleges, investments, and city funds from war, weapons, guns, fossil fuels, prisons and detention centers, and other forms of violence