| I recently read the best article by Paula Brock of | | | | movement many African-American moms feel a |
| the Seattle Times dealing with the subject of | | | | sense of exclusion and as if their concerns aren't |
| diversity in the green movement. The piece | | | | the green movements concerns. |
| started with an opening line that read" What's a | | | | What environmentalist are missing out on is that |
| nice black guy like me doing in a movement like | | | | as Van Jones of the Ella Baker Center for Human |
| this?" That question is the basis for today's blog. | | | | Rights says (and I am paraphrasing), "You can't |
| Typically when you hear about the environment | | | | ask people who are thinking about surviving to |
| or the green movement it's rarely if ever being | | | | care about the polar bears". What that means is if |
| discussed in the context of inclusion and | | | | environmentalists want to make any inroads with |
| communities of color. Generally speaking, the | | | | African-American moms they have to go back to |
| green movement has been seen by the | | | | marketing and pr 101, back to the basics. Theses |
| African-American community as organically White. | | | | organizations have got to demonstrate how such |
| Why? Primarily because the main issues focused | | | | a global issue directly affects these moms and |
| on by the masses in this movement do not tend | | | | their families in their local communities. Simply |
| to specifically address the issues that | | | | localize this global issue. |
| African-American moms are primarily concerned | | | | As soon as environmentalist start talking about |
| with in African-American neighborhoods. | | | | asbestos in inner city schools, the |
| Neighborhoods with high concentrations of | | | | disproportionately high rate of asthma in the |
| asthma, pollution, and unhealthy schools are all | | | | African-American community, and starts |
| serious concerns of African-American moms so it | | | | addressing the either real or perceived issue of |
| would seem as if the environmental movement | | | | environmental racism and classism, more |
| would take off where the civil rights movement | | | | African-American moms will sit up and take notice. |
| left off in the African-American community but it | | | | It's as complicated and as simple as that. |
| hasn't. And, it hasn't because like with the feminist | | | | |