Los Angeles, CA – On Thursday, July 3, community members of all kinds from across Southern California will come together in the epicenter of the region to launch a new solidarity movement to pressure local governments and corporations that are wreaking havoc on families and communities. 

Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE Justice) is spearheading the campaign, titled DEF Justice – a campaign for “Diversity, Equity, and Freedom.” 

What is DEF Justice:

• A people-powered economic resistance rooted in the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power.
• A solidarity movement of BIPOC, Immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities, seniors, working-class and poor folk, who have carried the weight of oppression for far too long and are done funding the systems that harm us.
• People committed to building up local communities by divesting from extractive, monopolistic, multinational corporations. We recognize that when land, labor, and power are concentrated with an elite few, we suffer.
• People prepared to educate, organize, and mobilize in the cause of revitalized and restored communities, with healthy economies, and better-functioning democracy.

CLUE’s Black and Brown Clergy and Community Coalition Leader and DEF Justice Campaign director, Pastor Cue Jn-Marie framed the campaign, saying: 

Given where we find ourselves in this era of Trumpism known for its cruelty, we cannot simply hope that those who control the system of ‘Plantation Capitalism’ will change their minds and start to treat our community members humanely. We must make them change their minds and their actions by practicing economic withdrawal. We must begin to withdraw our support, labor, and resources from the oppressors. 

It is economic withdrawal which broke the back of Apartheid in South Africa and the Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. It is a truism that “no one is coming to save us.” Indeed, as poet June Jordan wrote, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” We must save ourselves. But we don’t get to do it alone, we must do it together.

CLUE’s Executive Director, the Rev. Jennifer Guiterrez added, “What we know from giants of justice like the Rev. James Lawson and Dolores Huerta, is that we have the power to make strategic change and build an economy that works for everyone. But this resistance and rebuilding can only happen together. Through a yearlong DEF Justice campaign, CLUE will nurture the movement of Southern Californians ready to flex their power and fight injustice.

About CLUE Justice: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) educates, organizes, and mobilizes religious leaders and community members to walk with low-wage workers, immigrants, and communities of color while advocating for dignity, fair work, and healthy communities.

Launch partners include:  Black Alliance for Justice Immigration, Black Jewish Justice Alliance, Black Lives Matter Grassroots Los Angeles, Clergy for Black Lives Creating Justice Los Angeles, Ecumenical Center for Black Church Studies, Fannie Lou Hamer Institute, Fund for Reparations Now, HC for US, Long Beach Area Rapid Response Network, Interfaith Fund for Human Integrity, Sacred Resistance, SEIU 721, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California, Skid Row Peoples’ Market, The Row LA, White People for Black Lives, 50501 Long Beach and 50501 So Cal.