Environmental Justice

Racism

Vocabulary matters, as in this unit, marginalized include the voices of sometimes scared, sometimes courageous BIPOC. The “majority” consist of mostly those who covet positions of power and exploit the powerless. “There is a deep failure of political leadership in our country, and our leaders’ cowardice at a time when courage is needed most.”⁸ Historically this context is not new; it is buttressed by the lack of legitimacy given the bodies and minds of BIPOC.

“Since the 1600s, when adventurers from European nations explored and conquered lands in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the powerless have experienced environmental pollution and the abuse of natural resources. For centuries Native Americans filled their basic needs through the sustainable use of natural resources. Tribal groups hunted, fished, planted crops, and gathered from the land in ways that did not deplete the environment, taking from nature only what they needed at the time. This way of living in harmony with the natural environment was reflected in laws of the Iroquois Confederacy, which stated: ‘In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.’”⁹

This is not a narrative that many would want my Ss, and especially white Ss to learn; In fact, recently, according to National Public Radio, Vice President Kamala Harris, in a July 20, 2023 speech, condemned Florida, as they made what they considered pivotal curriculum changes.

“The divisive revisions came just months after the state rejected an Advanced Placement course on African American studies…Arguably the most criticized change was the guidelines for middle school students, which state ‘Instructions includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.’ Harris called the assertion not only insulting, but absurd- pointing to how slavery entailed torture, separating families and enforcing the belief that some people are less than human.”¹⁰

Vice President Kamala Harris did not name, DeSantis, governor of Florida, and presidential hopeful in her speech, but it was in response to his administration’s desire to change what is taught in schools. In Virginia, “Colored” would fall under DeSantis-like legislative proposal to Stop W.O.K.E Activism and Critical Race Theory. Virginia is on the precipice of such legislation, as some say Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration is collecting reports of ‘divisive’ topics being taught in schools. “He ordered the Department of Education to conduct a review and even started a hotline so aggrieved parents could provide tips and examples of its implementation in the classroom.”¹¹ 

None the less, Robert Bullard, et al state that “Hardly a day passes without the media discovering some community or neighborhood fighting a landfill, incinerator, chemical plant, or some other polluting industry.”¹² Robert Bullard is a sociologist. “He compiled the data …for a middle-class black community in suburban Houston, Texas, charging discrimination in the placement of municipal landfills.”¹³ Landfills produce gaseous odors, such as methane and carbon dioxide that move through soil, and are often placed in BIPOC communities because they are seen as communities who don’t have the voice, or the power to resist; thus, these communities become sacrifice zones.

“Industries also target some groups for potentially hazardous jobs because the groups are stereotyped as submissive. The electronics industry in California, for example, seeks Asian women-primarily immigrants from China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Vietnam- for assembly work, believing that such workers will not make waves and, regardless of the health hazards, will accept jobs that involve exposure to highly toxic chemicals.”¹⁴

Accordingly, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, educator, former executive director of the NAACP, and a long time civil-rights community organizer and activist, in a1987 study, Toxic Waste and Race in the United States, defined Racism as:

“Racism is the intentional or unintentional use of power to isolate, separate, and exploit others. This use of power is based on a belief in superior racial origin, identity, or supposed racial characteristics. Racism confers special privileges on and defends the dominant group, which in turns sustains and perpetuates racism. Both consciously and unconsciously, racism is forced and maintained by the legal, cultural, religious, educational, economic, political, environmental, and military institutions of societies. Racism is more than just a personal attitude; it is the institutionalized form of that attitude.¹⁵