July 25, 2016
In the past few weeks, months, and years, violence and hatred have dominated our television and computer screens as the list of people of color killed as a result of unaccountable police brutality continues to grow, and as vengeance fuels attacks against law enforcement. Fear and fierce mistrust are a continuum in our nation’s history of oppression and exploitation, and I often feel powerless about how to build trust and cooperation in our communities to prevent similar future acts; I’m sure many of you do as well.
You may wonder why such a statement might appear in this publication of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter — part of the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States. But violence and oppression against communities of color are closely linked to a history of environmental degradation and exploitation of natural resources. Put another way, the means to extract natural resources has often been through the abuse and destruction of oppressed bodies since Europeans first “discovered” this continent.
Genocide through policies of colonialism and slavery (including an enslaved barely-paid labor class) has ensured that the European would benefit from natural resources, human and physical. That elite often destroyed the land and those whose bodies were seen as an extension of the land, or who stood in the way of acquiring that land. The most efficient way to achieve the highest yield and labor productivity at the lowest cost continues to be through oppressive and exploitative means of vast populations — as outlined, for instance, by Jason Moore in Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital.
I recall this history to frame our thinking about the current tension that escalates on our streets today, and to remind us that such violence is a modern-day continuation of previous policies. Such oppression and exploitation can also take more subtle forms, such as the resurgence of voter suppression laws that were previously held at bay by the Voting Rights Act, enacted in 1965 to prohibit racial discrimination in voter registration and participation. This Act was challenged in Shelby County v. Holder, and in 2013 the Supreme Court ruled that our country is no longer that of 1965, and therefore the key elements of this law are irrelevant and unconstitutional.
During an interview with Terry Gross last August on NPR’s Fresh Air, Ari Berman (author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America) expressed his fears about the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision as we enter the first presidential election since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in which not all voters will benefit from federal oversight and a guaranteed right to vote — especially as states increasingly pass laws limiting who and when citizens can register to vote.
Basic rights and freedoms are being eliminated or have already been taken away. Many of us find it increasingly difficult to participate in democracy, whether through direct vote or the right to publicly assemble and protest. Some have even lost the basic right of presumed innocence and pay with their lives. These assaults on basic freedoms affect us all, directly or indirectly.
These issues relate to the fundamental work of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter: if we lose such basic rights and freedoms, we’ve lost our ability to work toward passing strong environmental policy to keep our air, water and soil clean, while protecting the public health of all humans and the right of all creatures to live on our planet. We already see low-income communities and communities of color endure toxic pollution and poor environmental protection more often than those with higher incomes and influence.
The Sierra Club is working to expand our understanding of environmental activism to include social justice and equity through its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program. Our goal continues to be that all may enjoy and benefit from a healthy and bountiful planet. This summer the Atlantic Chapter organized a DEI training to begin this process — the first step on a long, important journey for our Chapter here in New York. We hope you can join us in our efforts. Feel free to contact us for more information about how you can participate.
The most powerless and disenfranchised among us continue to endure the assault of natural resource extraction and pollution. Unless the environmental community understands the consequences of inaction and unites, the violence and exploitation waged against the most vulnerable among us, and against our planet, will only worsen as our rights continue to be eradicated. As Carl Schurz wrote in a speech entitled “True Americanism” (given in Boston, 1859):
We must protect the rights of any to ensure that the rights of all are protected. Indeed, if any among us are oppressed, we are all oppressed.
His words are as relevant today as when he wrote them. We must strive to ensure that all are empowered to protect each other collectively. It is our job to continually act to protect our rights, for they are the rights of all.
Erin Riddle