“Migrants Fight Climate Displacement”: Summer of Heat focuses on the impact of climate change on immigrants
Week 10 of a summer-long campaign targeting corporations like CitiBank stresses the consequences of climate change on migrants. Dozens of demonstrators have been arrested throughout the summer, and on Friday, 13 more arrests were made at Citi headquarters as protesters chanted: “We need clean air, not another millionaire.”
By Claudia Gohn
Protesters hold a sign that reads “Summer of Heat on Wall Street” at the August 16 protest
On Friday morning, protesters from across the city gathered in front of the Immigration Courthouse in Federal Plaza. Colorful laid out across the grass while drummers practiced and prepared for the march. Members of different organizations like New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Climate Defenders Action, Make the Road NY, and Planet over Profit began a march to the steps of the courthouse and leaders gave speeches stressing the dangers of fossil fuel usage and how corporations like CitiBank are damaging land across the world.
This Summer of Heat on Wall Street demonstration follows a months of many protests centered around bringing attention to the seriousness of climate change and the damage that companies are causing as a result of fossil fuel usage—particularly CitiBank. At many of these demonstrations, protesters have shown up at Citi headquarters downtown and some have been arrested. One was even punched in the face. But once again they showed up, risking arrest and speaking out. This specific protest was titled “Migrants Rise Up Against Climate Polluters” and focused on how climate change particularly and disproportionately affects immigrants. Speakers led chants: “What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now.”
Before the protest began, NYCC organizer Winsome Pendergrass emphasized the importance of focusing specifically on climate change and the intersection this advocacy has with the rights of immigrants and residents of countries devastated by corporation-exacerbated climate catastrophes. “Climate change is the thing that we take this summer to highlight the catastrophes that are happening not only in New York City or in America, but all over the world,” she says. “And we are aware of the fact that a lot of people are displaced because of climate catastrophe and they are heading to the United States of America.”
Winsome Pendergrass (on left) speaks to protesters at the action.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the global surface temperature for July 2024 was the warmest month on record. This increasing temperature, as well as other consequences of climate change, have led to more climate catastrophes, such as wildfires. Heatwaves in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco caused upwards of dozens of deaths this summer. Multiple speakers referenced how these catastrophes and results of climate change impact immigrants and people in marginalized communities—specifically focused on the role of CitiBank.
Pendergrass says that companies like CitiBank are devastating communities in different parts of the world—such as carrying out deforestation—and that this is a key part of the problem. “Immigrants have suffered at the hands of what these banks are doing. And that is the reason why people are coming here. I can't blame them. Nobody should blame them for coming here to seek a better way of life just to live,” she says.
The protesters stopped in a park where more speakers led chants and gave passionate speeches about the movement. The park's greenery provided shade from the scorching heat, almost poetic given the reason for marching. Police officers followed along with the march and huddled around the demonstrators while inside the park. One police officer told a couple organizers that they needed to move, and so the group started walking to CitiBank Headquarters.
Protesters march while holding signs and banners.
This protest was during week 10 of the 11-week long Summer of Heat on Wall Street campaign. Throughout the summer, the campaign focused on different intersections of climate change activism, with focuses including Palestinian solidarity, the Gulf South, and feminism. The campaign has had a far reach on social media and press, and the relentless protests and arrests have put the campaign on the map among this summers’ demonstrations.
But these protesters and organizing groups are building momentum and taking risks because they vehemently believe in the cause. “We're very clear about the science and that these conditions are something that we're going to have to live with,” NYCC organizer Olivia Leirer says. “But we can expect them to get worse if we don't make dramatic change and we don't make it on a very escalated timeline.”
The final action of the protest was in front of Citi Headquarters in Tribeca. There was already an NYPD and Citi security presence before the protesters showed up. A woman walked around with a bullhorn informing Citi employees to present their ID badge before entering the building. The protesters gathered in the center of the courtyard at the front entrance. Organizers led more chants. Then, 13 protesters sat in a row along the front doors to the building. Behind them through the tall glass was a giant “Citi” logo on the back wall. Each of them had a yellow flower, and they locked arms while belting chants like “we need clean air, not another millionaire” and “migrant justice” as more NYPD officers arrived.
Protesters sitting in front of the front doors at Citi Headquarters holding flowers and signs.
Within 15 minutes, the NYPD demanded over a speaker that the protesters disperse. They remained locked arm in arm and the protesters who remained in the courtyard continued to chant while all 13 seated demonstrators were placed under arrest.
The organizers included arrest and jail support volunteers, who took down names and made sure that arrests were monitored. They knew there would be arrests and planned to help support them. One jail support and deescalation organizer, at only 17 years old, Miles, was there to help keep people safe.
“Our job is threefold. Number one is the safety of ourselves. Number two is the safety of our people. Number three is the safety of the public,” she said.
Protesters sitting in front of the doors were arrested.
Summer of Heat on Wall Street has witnessed dozens of arrests this summer. People across various organizations and NYC neighborhoods deliberately put themselves at risk for arrest in the name of this movement. And this intention—alongside the fellow relentless protesters who participate as marchers, speakers, musicians, and artists this summer—is meant to make noise.
“This is a moment to take elevated action and to be as disruptive as possible. Because if we don't, then things will just go along the way that they are,” Leirer says. “And maybe we'll see a small change here and there, but we're not in a moment for small change anymore. It's too late. We have to take action at the scale of the crisis, and that's what we're going to demand.”
Claudia Gohn is a co-founder and co-editor-in-chief at Grassroots. She can be reached at claudia@grassrootsmagazinenyc.com