Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanté Davis.
Hi Chanté, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In September of 2019, I was introduced to the Sunrise Movement after searching eagerly for youth climate strikes happening in my area. Two years after Hurricane Harvey (and the many tropical storms and power outages in between) wreaked havoc throughout Houston, I was ready for our leaders to take bold climate action. Once at the strike, I met Madeline Canfield, who was over recruitment at the time. She urged me to get involved after the strike to continue building power and told me about an upcoming meeting with the Sunrise Houston hub. Since that moment, I have become a lead organizer in my community and the organization itself. Over the span of 4 years, I have practiced solidarity with local mutual aid groups, led get-out-the-vote efforts targeting teen voters during the 2020 local [Texas] and national races, and organized a 400-mile climate march from my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana to Houston, Texas to bring attention to the climate crisis happening in the Gulf South.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Climate activism, like any other kind of activism has had it’s good and bad times. Most days, I relish in the joy of being in community with fellow organizers across the nation. During times when we share our stories. I feel the immense power we hold as young people across race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, etc. coming together to demand a livable future. Other days, I feel anxious about the state of our world and the ignorant inaction of our leaders. Organizing in the South, no less Texas, has had its struggles as myself and other organizers seek to change the entire culture around environmentalism and fight anti-Green New Deal propaganda.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
To me, the biggest risk one can take is to sit back and let the world go out in flames. This past summer, I willingly took the biggest risk I ever have since 2005. Myself and many other organizers, whom I’d organized to join me in my trek, walked 400 miles from New Orleans to Houston. For forty days, we marched in the blazing Southern heat, alongside alligators and armadillos, calling for climate justice and for Biden to pass a Civilian Climate Corps. There were days of walking through the pain of sprained ankles and feet and struggling to build community across our many differences. We also partnered with organizations along the way: Rise St. James, The Descendants Project, Bayou Food Forest, Houston Climate Justice Museum, Our Afrikaan Family, Circle Coalition, Air Alliance Houston and the United Steelworkers Union of Texas. All in all, I think we won in many ways just as much as we loss, but taking that risk was so important in the role that it played in my personal transformation and the movement overall.
Contact Info:
- Email: chantedavis11@gmail.com
- Instagram: @oneoysean
Image Credits
Rachel Warriner
