Reclaim Philadelphia's Covid-19 Response Statement

In this moment of danger, uncertainty, and the disruption of normal life, Reclaim Philadelphia’s highest priorities are the health, safety, and security of every member of our community. As the COVID-19 virus spreads across our world, our country, and our city, we are turning to each other for support and solutions. And so, we are expanding our electoral and policy organizing to include mutual aid work. We are in this together. 

With all of the issues we face amidst this public health and economic crisis, we must support our community, while also transforming who holds power. This means we are checking in on the health and wellness of our community members and connecting them with the resources they need. Because our system has failed us, we have to rely on each other now more than ever to survive. But mutual aid is not enough. This is why we must continue to push for policy change and fight to elect candidates who will wield their powers to fight alongside us. 

Over the course of the past four decades, billionaires, giant corporations, and Wall Street institutions have rigged our political system to serve themselves, gutting essential public infrastructure, including the capacity for functional government, along the way. Working people—urban and rural, white, black, and brown—have been left behind, and we are seeing the dysfunction and disparities of this system in the unfolding crisis. 

We are clear that staying home does not mean staying silent. We will use every tool available right now to call for the recovery and future we all deserve, and we are committed to inventing and implementing new ways to reach people for a broader and more inclusive base. That means we are relying more on phone banking, peer-to-peer texting, and digital organizing. We have shifted all our meetings online to maintain social connectivity and continue building power in Philadelphia. To that end, we will continue to have virtual neighborhood and mass meetings to bring more people into this movement with us.

We have seen through this crisis that our communities are not getting what we need because of a lack of political will, not because our demands are impossible. In response, we demand bold action from our elected officials to meet our needs head on by supporting the critical policy outlined in the Philly People’s Bailout. 

As the Reclaim Philadelphia community, we must come together now to:

• Support each other.

• Release as many people as possible from jails and prisons, end new bookings and then transform our criminal legal system.

• Zero out rent and mortgage payments nationwide, provide homes and expand city services, stop and seal evictions and then enact a Homes Guarantee for Philadelphia.

• Fight for workers’ rights, including personal protective equipment, health care, and the just Philadelphia we deserve.

• Stop austerity budgeting and demand a progressive budget that funds our communities and city services. 

• Put people back to work in good union jobs, power a just recovery and transition to the zero-carbon future we desperately need.   

• Ensure progressive leaders from our movement are elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, and that we win as many progressive delegates for the Democratic National Convention as possible.

Now is the time for corporations across this country to pay their fair share. It’s the time for our elected officials to fight tooth and nail for the state and federal funding that will support our future. Corporations do not need yet another bailout. Now is the time to prioritize people over profit.

We cannot afford to “return to normal.” “Normal” brought us massive income inequality, a decimated safety net, housing insecurity, and skyrocketing student debt. “Normal” is built upon systemic racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and nationalism. “Normal” has come to mean funding forever wars rather than investing in schools and health care. “Normal” brought us to this point, and it was killing us before the virus outbreak. In the future we’re fighting to create, we must develop new norms to protect people and the planet first. The future we’re fighting for is based on truths that this moment is bringing to light for millions—that the workers are the backbone of the economy, not the CEOs; that wealth and abundance are created through labor and collaboration; and that we are paid too little and unequally across gender and race. The future we’re fighting for is one in which the value of every person is recognized, not because of the work they do or the profit they make for bosses, but because of their humanity. 

We invite you to join us and connect with your Reclaim Philadelphia Neighborhood group. Local leaders will connect you with organizing in this moment to build community and fight for the future we all deserve.