Incredible article with excellent points. It’s true, the environment is not a race issue.
Article:
Bennie Thompson: This Earth Day, Let’s Make Environmental Justice a Crucial Issue for Blacks
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2006
By: Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
Mercy, mercy me
Things ain't what they used to be, no
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east
Mercy, mercy me, mercy father
Things ain't what they used to be, no
Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury
Mercy, mercy me
things ain't what they used to be, no
Radiation under ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh, mercy, mercy me
Things ain't what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land
How much more abuse from man can she stand?
-- "Mercy, Mercy Me," Marvin Gaye
April 22nd is Earth Day. Yet for many African-Americans, Earth Day is just another day in an environmental movement that is perceived as overwhelmingly white and privileged. For many, there is a feeling that the “green” movement is more committed to saving the spotted owl than addressing the environmental degradation of communities of color and the poor. This perception was further fueled by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal’s (PETA) Animal Liberation campaign last year which compared the treatment of animals to that of enslaved Africans during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the New World.
Yet, if one takes a closer look at the history of the American environmental movement, we will find that it is replete with the contributions of African-Americans. For example, George Washington Carver, one of America's greatest agricultural researchers, worked wonders in the field of crop rotation to preserve soil and improve farm productive. Zora Neale Hurston consistently documented and connected her literary characters’ developments to their land and environment. York, the enslaved African-American who accompanied Lewis and Clark during their expedition to the West, relied on his experience as a woodsman and hunter to impress the Native Americans he met along the way.
It took a group of African-American churchwomen to radically alter the mainstream environmental images of salmon swimming upstream and the majestic Rockies to that of public health. In 1982, hundreds were arrested in Warren County, North Carolina when protestors laid their bodies on a road to protest the dumping of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) in their community. Although the community lost the battle, this effort is viewed by many as the birth of the environmental justice movement -- a movement that studies, analyzes and attempts to eradicate the disproportionate impact that toxins have on communities of color and poor people.
Their efforts were not in vain. The following year, the U.S. General Accounting Office conducted a study which found that three out of four off-site, commercial hazardous waste landfills in the southeastern United States were located within predominately black communities. In 1987, a study by the United Church of Christ Commission of Racial Justice found that race was the most significant factor in determining where waste facilities were located. Specifically, the study found that three out of five African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans and 50 percent of Asian-Pacific Islander Americans and Native Americans lived in communities with one or more uncontrolled toxic waste sites. A follow-up study in 1994 concluded that this trend had worsened.
When the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights groups began to highlight this issue, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898, charging all federal agencies to address the disproportionate pollution and toxicity levels experienced by communities of color and the poor. Last June, President Bush reversed the Executive Order by removing race and class as a special consideration of the definition of environmental justice.
As I continue to attempt to address the many devastations of Hurricane Katrina, I cannot help lamenting Marvin Gaye’s accuracy in "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)." Although written a generation ago, his words screamed at me when I toured the ravaged scenery of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and saw the storm’s impact on the local fisheries and shrimp farms. His lyrics haunted me when I walked through the Louisiana Gulf Coast and thought about the effect of the more than 125 oil and chemical plants -- commonly referred to as “Cancer Alley” -- on the health and homes of the many residents.
As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, Marvin Gaye’s plea for the ecology is an awakening. Yes, Katrina exposed the intersection of racism and poverty. But, as African-Americans, we should take up Hurricane Katrina’s challenge, and take a close look at the environmental connection. This Earth Day, blacks should take the opportunity to better understand how public policies relate to the environment and our health. Let us lead the charge of defending our community’s environmental health.
In the words of Marvin Gaye, African-Americans must ask, “How much more abuse from man can she (Earth) stand?" Most importantly, on this Earth Day, African-Americans must commit to addressing Hurricane Katrina’s environmental devastation and health impact on our brothers and sisters.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson is now serving his seventh term as the Democratic Congressman from Mississippi’s Second District and second term on the Homeland Security Committee.
GEARI (the Group for the Education of Animal - Related Issues) is a non-profit educational group dedicated to assisting you in your search for information on animal rights-related issues, the environment and human health. Your reference source for animal rights information. Visit us at our web site at http://www.geari.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, or Syndicate us via RSS.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Search for More Content
Custom Search
Past Articles
-
▼
2006
(726)
-
▼
April
(68)
- Spain's Governing Party Promoting a Controversial ...
- Group In Oregon Wants Schumacher Fur Store To Labe...
- National Animal-Rights Group Urges Counseling For ...
- Judge in NJ Fines Activists Protesting the New Jer...
- Simple Form to Let Representatives Know You Suppor...
- Chicago Bans Sale of Foie Gras in Restaurants: Wh...
- Sickos in Williams Township in NJ Kill Two Baby Go...
- In Effort To Encourage Greater Care Of Companion A...
- Commentary: Protesters Against Animal Experimentat...
- Turkeys at a Farm in the UK Were Thrown In the Air...
- Group Has Filed Notice That it Will Sue The Minnes...
- Last Chance for Animals to Push for Congress to Pa...
- 16 Year Old Girl Posts Video of Herself Abusing Ca...
- Drug Testing Giant Covance Plans to Build Vivisect...
- New Group Seeks Amnesty and Restitution for Chimpa...
- Removed From the Jungle and Smuggled Into Thailand...
- Utah Settles a Lawsuit Filed by Two Animal-Rights ...
- Even in Tasmania, Activists Fight to Expose Cruelt...
- Dog Eating Will Stay Illegal In The Philippines
- Advocates Lobby Against End To Sunday Hunting Ban ...
- Reward Offered For Info In Brutal Dog Abuse Case i...
- Animal Rights Groups Seek Probe Into Lion Cub's De...
- In the Town of Collierville, TN, Puppy Mutilated, ...
- Louisiana's Proposed Pet Evacuation Bill, Passed T...
- Louisiana's Proposed Pet Evacuation Bill - Senate ...
- Bennie Thompson: This Earth Day, Let’s Make Enviro...
- The Sierra Club Creates Contest to Finance a Sport...
- Even Though Chinese Eat Less Civets due to SARS, t...
- When Other Animals Suffer, So Do We: Washington Po...
- Pro-Hunting Japanese Seize Control Of Whaling Comm...
- HSUS Ends it’s Documentation for this Year of the ...
- Another Sell Out: Nestlé Looks Set To Swallow Up ...
- Brutal Canadians Laugh at the Rules and Exceed Kil...
- In Canada, the Harassment Continues: Those who Cam...
- Postal Workers Have Reports Of Baby Chicks Dying I...
- India's Tigers Are Vanishing at an Alarming Rate: ...
- Puppies Being Smuggled Out of Mexico to be Sold At...
- Group Decides To Withdraw Activities In Romania Fo...
- Campaign Against the Cruelty of Kentucky Fried Chi...
- Residents in the Eastern Quebec in Canada Resort t...
- Sickening Videos of Pigs Being Stunned With Taser ...
- How You Can Help Pass The Louisiana Pet Evacuation...
- New Video Game for Play Station Turns Table on Ani...
- Wacko Wacks Out and Eats Puppy
- In Scotland, Dog Pulling as Cruel as Dog Fighting ...
- Brutal Canadians to Begin Second Leg of Baby Seal ...
- Maine Fully Enacts Bill To Allow Judges To Include...
- Kentucky Legislature Votes To Make Illegal The Pra...
- ASPCA Leads in a Lawsuit against Ringling Brothers...
- Oxford University Seeks to Deny Free Speech and Fr...
- Even though Yerkes Cannot Prove that HIV Tests Wou...
- Believe it or Not, Mattel Creates a “Bullfighting ...
- The Kenya Wildlife Service Says it Has Broken Up a...
- Cathy Kangas of PRAI Beauty Offers Canadian Govt. ...
- Citizens of Louisiana Will Have March Declaring Ne...
- After Intimidation and Pressure by Canadian Govern...
- USDA Has Fined Drug-Testing Company Covance, After...
- Animal Rights Groups Honors Police for Saving Moose
- Maine's Governor Signs Bill That Allows Animals To...
- Scientists Cause Additional Suffering to Examine S...
- National Park Service in Point Reyes, California P...
- Humane Society of the United States Denied Permit ...
- Costco Removes Seal Oil Capsules From Their St. Jo...
- Two Hindu Organizations Are Supporting A Hare Kris...
- Somali Animal Rights Community Looks to Save Many ...
- Pictures of Dogs and Cats Who Were Victims of Hurr...
- Canadian Government Attempts to Hide the Brutal Tr...
- Misleading "Animal Care Certified" Logo Found on E...
-
▼
April
(68)
No comments:
Post a Comment