Protestors that had congregated at the White House to demand that President Joe Biden follow through with his campaign promises then vandalized a statue of former President Andrew Jackson. The Build Back Fossil Free coalition began a five-day protest Monday demanding that the Biden administration take action on climate change, Fox News reported.
“People are dying right now from the pollutants, the toxins, the climate catastrophes that are happening — and we have to stop the harm,” Director of the Sovereign Inupiat for the Living Arctic, Siqiñiq Maupin, said in a statement. “Biden’s election was riding on climate change; his entire election hinged on turning out people of color and Indigenous people.”
“But when it really comes to what matters, our lives are still being sacrificed for oil and gas,” Maupin continued. “That’s why we’re here today.”
In a demand for Biden to either “respect” them or “expect” them, protesters wrote “expect us” in graffiti on the statue of Jackson near the White House.
The Build Back Fossil Free coalition is a non-profit whose primary focus is to ensure that “Biden becomes the climate president he promised to be,” according to the group’s website.