A Great Day with the Revolting Lesbians: Kick Her off the Board God damn it!

On Sunday morning, we woke up early and made our way to Judson Memorial Church, where Micah was preaching about stories we live through and learn from, the ways we paint portraits with words, digging through the tragedies of our past to make sense of our present. On Earth Day, the question is what kind of a tragedy we are ignoring?  What kind of damage is our willful ignorance imposing on the earth?"

What are our arguments in the face of people who are solutions adverse.

97% of scientists agree with the science about climate change. 

Every single country in the world signed onto the Paris Accord. 

The last 12000 years have been a relatively stable climate that allowed civilization to live.

We won't be able to have civilizations anymore if it becomes unstable. 

Do you have grand kids?

The precautionary principle suggests that unless we know otherwise, we should prepare for harm.

The feeling carried with us all day long.

It was a glorious day.

To get to the bottom of things, we joined the Revolting Lesbians, “a direct action group devoted to following the money, exposing the right wing agenda, and fighting for justice.”  Lately, they have set their eyes on cultural institutions.

We made our way to the Upper West Side to the Museum of Natural History.

The facebook invitation for the action declared:

Join Revolting Lesbians on Earth Day to tell the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) that the Earth is not for sale. 

Rebekah Mercer has bought her way into the White House -- and onto the Board of Trustees of the AMNH. At the same time she gives millions to organizations promoting climate change denial (over $48 million from 2009-2016). One of these organizations, the Heartland Institute, claims responsibility for convincing Trump that climate change isn't real. 

Mercer money is destroying our democracy and our planet. Nobody voted for her and she has no place on the board of a science museum. We will continue to revolt against Rebekah Mercer's position on the board until she is removed or resigns. 

Mercer Has the Money - People Have the Power

Rude Mechanical Orchestra are joining us! 

Everyone Welcome - Spread the word - Bring signs - Dress up!

Resistance is Not Enough! Revolt!

Arriving at the museum, a man was arguing with my friend Jenny about why we were there.

Is the sun the sun, asked Jenny.

The man asked us to debate him about climate change.

And so we talked for a few minutes.

Show me science journal articles that show me climate change is not real?

I found one in the Wall Street Journal, he responded.

That’s not a science journal.

Where was Neil deGrasse Tyson? 

He reminds us:

 “When you have people who don't know much about science, standing in denial of it and rising to power, that is a recipe for the complete dismantling of our informed democracy."

Where were the revolting lesbians, we wondered?

Go left of the planetarium, noted Jenny.

A museum security guard came to talk with us.

You saw me in the video the other day.

Finally, we found the lesbians and made our way to the museum, chanting:

Mercer money is not benign

Rebekah Mercer must resign.

Mercer money is killing our planet.

Kick her off the board god damnit!

Alt right money is evil cash

Dump Rebekah Mercer’s in the trash!

More and more people joined our roving picket.  The band sounded better and better, more and more in synch with the marchers and chanters.

You set the bar too low.

Rebekah Mercer has to go!

A few years ago, I was in Paris for the COP21.

And we held a zap at the Louvre, demanding we keep fossil fuels out of culture.

We’re doing the same today.

Reminding the world there are other more abundant stories.

Its up to us to point to a more abundant narrative.

The day before the action in Paris, a few groups involved held a teach in, discussing what they were doing. A few friends talked about their reasons for targeting cultural institutions.

“Museums tell us what it means to be human,” notes Beka. From the refugees to floods to rising tides, museums can and should help us come to grips with what it means to live in an era of climate change.

Museums are there to create a space to contemplate collective action. These activists hope to reclaim museums.

Mel pointed out that museums are luminal spaces, blurry spaces, open to multiple ways of looking at the world.

“We are unpacking  bundles of history, unraveling sponsors with ties to colonialism,” note Chris.  So how do we have agency and have an impact.  Museums are alive.  The Louvre would be the following day.  Or so we hoped.   

Those with a financial interest in denying science are trying to get into cultural institutions.

But for a day, a roving picket reminded visitors to our premiere science museum, that it is our obligation to hold museums to a higher standard.
My favorite chant on Sunday was:

Climate change is real, duh!

Leaving the AMNH, we could hear the Rude Mechanicals playing, the Revolting Lesbians changing it, their screams echoing into the hills of Strawberry Fields.