opinion
Environmental Racism Remains a Problem
T
he worldwide struggle for
environmental justice and
equality continues. While
many advances have been made
globally in defining, researching,
and confronting the realities of
environmental racism, here inside
the United States there are still far
too many African Americans,
Latino Americans, Pacific Islander
and Asian Americans, Native
Americans and others who remain
disproportionately exposed to
environmental hazards, toxins,
cancer-causing pollutions, and
other life-threatening environ-
ments.
Of course, there are more than
one contributing factor to these
circumstances: economic, social,
political, and geographical. But,
one of the most “determinative”
factors is the issue of race. The
whole history of denial when it
comes to issues of racial discrimi-
nation in the U.S. remains true.
Tragically, those who are the vic-
tims of these types of injustices
are often denied the possibility for
adequate redress and resolution. In
other words, challenging “envi-
ronmental racism” in 2011 should
be one of the top priorities for the
U.S. government as well as for
state and local governments.
NNpA c OlumNISt
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
But, we all know well from prior
experiences, that effective govern-
mental corrective action and
meaningful public policy changes
only happens when there is an
effective and sustainability move-
ment for freedom, justice, and
equality around the specific issue
at
hand.
Thus,
we
must build a
stronger
environmen-
tal
justice
movement in
the U.S. and
establish
strategic
organization-
al alliances
at the United Nations and with
other grassroots environmental
justice organizations international-
ly. It will take stronger movements
for change to get all governmental
bodies to seek greater environ-
mental justice.
Most of the 15 million weekly
readers of the National Newspaper
Publishers Association, America’s
Black Press, should recall that it
took many years before the feder-
al government would even admit
the existence of environmental
racism. Under Presidents Reagan
and Bush, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in the
1980’s and 1990’s refused to
acknowledge this social problem.
By February 1994 President
Clinton issued Executive Order
12898 on Environmental Justice
that gave the environmental jus-
“Racial discrimination in the
deliberate targeting of ethnic and
minority communities for expo-
sure to toxic and hazardous waste
sites and facilities, coupled with
the systematic exclusion of
minorities in environmental policy
making, enforcement, and remedi-
ation.”
President Barack Obama is no
stranger to this issue. When he
was a state senator from Illinois,
he worked with others to chal-
lenge environmental
injustices in places
like
Altgeld
Gardens
located
deep
on
the
Southside
of
Chicago.
Hazel
Johnson, an African
American
grass-
roots leader from
Altgeld
Gardens
became one of the
strong effective national “moth-
ers” of the environmental justice
movement. Today, we must press
forward
without
relenting.
Literally, millions of African
American, Latino, and other
minorities are suffering from an
increase in multiple forms of can-
cer and other diseases as a direct
results of unjust and terrible expo-
Tragically ... victims of these types of
injustices are often denied the
possibility for adequate redress ...
tice movement an official federal
status. Today, the EPA has an
ongoing Office for Environmental
Justice.
Due to my prior work with the
United
Church
of
Christ
Commission for Racial Justice and
my background as a chemist, I was
fortunate back in 1982 to first coin
the term environmental racism:
sures to environmental dangers.
That is why we must oppose any
attempt to scale back health care
coverage and reform in the United
States. Millions of lives are at
stake.
Let’s work with the EPA today
and the Obama Administration to
get more relief and to establish
better living conditions for our
families and communities across
the nation. 2011 should be a year
for more progress. Don’t let the
negative, cynical forces of reac-
tion take us backward. Yes, there
are many different issues and pri-
orities that will demand out atten-
tion and energy. It is in the context
of our overall struggle for justice
and empowerment that I am
reminding us not to forget about
the air we breath, the water we
drank, and the environment where
we live. Racism in all of its dead-
ly forms must be challenged.
Dr. Benjamin F Chavis Jr. is
Senior advisor to the Black
alliance for educational options
and President of education online
Services Corporation.
Blacks in the White House Came Before Obama
O
n January 20, 2009,
Barack Obama was sworn
in as the first Black
President of the United States of
America. Upon waving farewell to
George Bush and former First
Lady Laura Bush, President
Obama and First Lady Michelle
Obama moved their family into
the White House. For many
Americans, the history of African
Americans in the White House
began in 2009. Not true.
Dr. Clarence Lusane, Political
Science professor at American
University, has written a book
entitled, The Black History of the
White House, which historically
honors the contribution of African
Americans as free and enslaved
people within the most celebrated
house in the United States of
America. Dr. Lusane, aside from
his formal scholarship, is no
stranger to the Black community.
NNpA c OlumNISt
American history in classrooms,
enslaved Black people were
forcibly worked for free within the
spoke of his opposition to the
institution of slavery, he enslaved
Ms. Oney Judd and other African
Gary L. Flowers
Either directly or indirectly, Dr.
Lusane has worked with many of
the Member Organizations of the
Black Leadership Forum, Inc,
among them the TransAfrica
Forum and the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies.
Prior to 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C.
being the address of the White
House, the first President’s House
was located in New York and
Philadelphia, respectively. For
years, archeological evidence and
the relentless efforts by progres-
sive African Americans in
Philadelphia have pointed toward
a full public recognition that,
despite historic omissions and
falsehoods in the teaching of
... enslaved Black people were
forcibly worked for free within the
home of a sitting president.
Many.
home of a sitting president. Many.
Two in particular, an African
American lady named Oney Judd
and a man named Hercules are
featured in the book. According to
Dr. Lusane, President George
Washington words and deeds did
not match on the subject of slav-
ery. While President Washington
Americans. One evening, Ms.
Oney simply walked out of the
rear door of the President’s House
while George Washington and his
wife Martha ate dinner. Following
a search, Ms. Judd was found and
was offered her freedom, if she
would return to bondage. She sim-
ply replied, “I am already free”,
protection or antitrust laws due to
the risk of large attorney fees –
even in a case that succeeds over-
all. The bill, sponsored by Sen.
Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, per-
mits reasonable attorney fees for a
defendant only upon a finding by a
judge that the state’s action was
frivolous. It also makes it clear
that that the Consumer Protection
Act applies to Washington busi-
nesses that deal only with out-of-
state consumers.
Unauthorized Practice of Law
Affecting Immigrants: A flaw in
state law allows seemingly gov-
ernment-approved “immigration
assistants” to charge for help even
when they’re not qualified to offer
legal advice. Their mistakes can
delay or ruin a customer’s chances
of obtaining legal status. The bill,
sponsored by Rep. Phyllis
Gutierrez Kenney, D-Seattle,
eliminates the “immigration assis-
tant” designation. “This law will
help protect immigrants who enter
the country on visas and try to do
the right thing by seeking govern-
ment-approved help, rather than
over-staying those visas,” said
Rep. Kenney.
In November of last year,
Attorney General McKenna
and did not return.
In another case, an enslaved
African American man by the
name of Hercules emancipated
himself by escaping the bondage
of George Washington on a trip
from Philadelphia to the Mount
Vernon, Virginia private plantation
of George Washington.
Both cases are featured in The
Black History in the White House
that should be required reading in
Sunday schools and public school
systems. Until American educa-
tion exposes students to all histo-
ry—pleasant and unpleasant—our
nation will not be able to fully
address the issue of race.
gary l. Flowers, executive
Director and Ceo of the Black
leadership Forum, inc.
Washington
continued from page 3
communities have faced attempts
to have their homes taken away.
Both bills are similar to legislation
requested by the Attorney General
that died in committee in 2010.
The Attorney General requests
three bills to help protect con-
sumers:
Stolen Mail: The Attorney
General’s Law Enforcement
Group Against Identity Theft
(LEGIT) Task Force recommends
defining mail theft as a Class C
felony. “Our mailboxes are a treas-
ure-trove for identity thieves
because they contain our financial,
medical and other personal infor-
mation,” said House sponsor Rep.
Jason Overstreet, R-Blaine. “This
crime devastates people’s credit
ratings
and
drains
bank
accounts.” The Senate bill is
sponsored by Carrell.
Fixing the Consumer Protection
Act: Washington is the only state
that awards defendants attorney
fees in government enforcement
actions without requiring a deter-
mination that the state’s case was
frivolous or malicious. This dis-
courages the pursuit of targets
engaged violations of consumer
announced his proposal to fight
gang violence. The mix of civil
and criminal provisions, along
with more resources for preven-
tion and intervention, continues to
be honed by legislators. At a work
session in December, Don Pierce,
executive
director
of
the Washington State Association
of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs,
warned that some neighborhoods
in the state are “nearly under
siege” from gang violence.
january 5, 2011 The Portland and Seattle Skanner page 5