Marching in the Birthplace of America: Philly Climate Strike
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
It was a beautiful September day — one of few that haven’t been affected by global warming — to march on the nation’s first capital. Teenagers crowded the street outside the Philadelphia City Hall. The crowd was over a thousand students strong, according to WHYY, and students from across the region skipped school to lay down their pencils for picket signs.
The march, more notably known as #PhillyStrikesBack, was organized by Sunrise Philadelphia, one of many hubs across the nation that are part of the Sunrise Movement, an organization bent on demanding climate action. The rally started at 11 and included a mix of speeches and chants, which were, for the most part, completed by young adults. The march followed the rally, snaking through the streets of downtown Philly.
The first speaker, Philadelphia city councilwoman Helen Gym, blended words of encouragement with an honest evaluation of environmental problems in the city. Referring to Philly’s status as the poorest large city in the country, she described the issues of childhood asthma, the toxic conditions in inner-city schools, the unaffordable public transit system, and the recent explosion of a local oil refinery. She went on to express her pride and support for the striking students, even handing out hundreds of passes from her office to excuse students from being absent from school. She ended the speech with a riveting call to action, “Build the world we know to be possible and overwhelm us with your magic and beauty and you will never be alone. Thank you!”
Teenagers then took the stage, starting with 16-year-old Sabirah Mahmud, one of the leading organizers, who provided a brutally real and personal explanation of environmental injustice. Despite her upbringing in Philadelphia, her family in Bangladesh is currently experiencing the crisis of climate change. She remembered being carried to a car through flooding waters while visiting her family. Tragically, her nephew died in a similar flood, and four of her cousins died from lung cancer caused by air pollution that permeated the country. Calling out privilege and ignorance, she said: “While the country in which my family is suffering from mass fires, floods, and air pollution, we stand here and claim climate change is not important.”
Another sixteen-year-old named Jason took the stage with a powerful message in a different form: rap. His lyrics were crafted to flow rhythmically while conveying vital and factual information. For example “All these lack of trees | gon’ make it hard to breathe | for you and for me | and just last week the Amazon was on fire | I’m speakin’ to the world this situation’s dire.” One of his particularly hard-hitting lyrics was “How the hell am I supposed to have kids | If I won’t be alive past 2036,” expressing a desperate sentiment shared by many teenagers.
During the march, some protesters carried signs with signature phrases of the movement such as “There is no planet B.” Others took a more serious approach, with statements such as “Fight climate change or die trying,” and “If you won’t act like adults, we will.” Some students were more creatively humorous, joking about VSCO girls, Bill Nye and the bright orange mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, Gritty.
One particularly moving part of the march was a group of children, who were noticeably younger than the other marchers. The elementary-age students chanted the familiar chant “Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!” and holding signs reading “I can’t do this alone! Act Now! The climate depends on us.”
Although not as large as the marches in New York and DC, the Philly climate strike attracted a significant turnout. Speeches featured messages specific to the environmental and economic issues of the city while maintaining the focus on national and global action. If the march proved one thing, it’s that Philly teenagers are terrified for their future, yet filled with enough hope and determination to do something about it.
