ISAAC
Executive Director Dr. Charlae Davis
A special thank you to County Commissioner Kevin Wordelman for visiting and speaking with our Executive Committee about the “Campaign to Unload.” If you have not already, please read more about this initiative and feel free to sign the petition. We are in this together! Commissioner Wordelman, thank you for your awesome service and dedication to our community!
PETITION BACKGROUND
Responding to a string of tragic shootings in Kalamazoo County since January 1, 2016 that have left several Kalamazoo area residents dead or badly injured, residents and community leaders are drawing attention to the epidemic of gun violence in the United States and taking aim directly at the companies profiting from it.
Gun sales tend to increase after mass shooting events, increasing revenue for the gun industry, much of which is used to influence elections and lobby elected officials to prevent passage of common sense gun regulations at the state and national level.
We need to take action as individuals by selling off any investments we have in companies that profit from gun violence and calling on others, especially our elected officials, to do the same.
Kalamazoo city and county would not be the first local governments or pension funds to divest from the gun industry. New York City, Chicago, the state of Rhode Island, and the California State Teachers Retirement System, valued at nearly $150 billion, have already acted to sell off, and stop purchasing, investments in the gun industry.
For more information on divestment from gun manufacturers, see unloadyour401k.com
Certainly individual behaviors and ideas about guns need to change, but we also need to change the incentives so that gun makers cannot profit from gun violence.
For additional information:
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Ed Genesis is an artist, poet, musician, organizer, entrepreneur, and community leader. Born and raised in Gary, Indiana and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan permanently in his early 20’s, his love of art/music, his passion for his people and community, and his gift of creativity are evident in all areas of his work. In October 2018 Ed Genesis released a song to accompany the campaign he was working on around school push out, entitled Junior High, which was distributed nationwide including on his own iHeart radio station, Spotify, and iTunes.