Sierra Club Statement as Hispanic Heritage Month Starts

WASHINGTON, DC - In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week. The original celebration was observed during the week that included September 15 and 16 and was expanded in 1988 by Congress to a month-long celebration (Sept. 15 - Oct. 15), effective the following year.

The Sierra Club is grateful for the myriad contributions that the Hispanic community has made to the environmental movement and to our organization, even though the movement has often been less than welcoming. 

In Response, Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz and Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune Released the Following Joint Statement:

“As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the Sierra Club recommits to ensuring that the environmental movement is actively inclusive for all communities as we work for environmental justice and to address the systemic discrimination and inequalities that have put immigrants, people of color, and other vulnerable communities in the path of the worst effects of the climate crisis.

“Our thoughts right now are with the Latinx communities facing environmental injustice across the country, putting them at greater risk from dirty air, polluted neighborhoods and COVID-19. In many states, Hispanic and Latinx people are experiencing extreme nature deprivation. Sea level rise driven by the climate crisis poses an existential threat to Latinx communities in regions like South Florida. Natural area loss is particularly acute for Hispanic and Latinx communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“For these reasons and more, the Sierra Club continues to rise in solidarity with local communities against the Trump administration’s racist, wasteful, and environmentally catastrophic border wall. We join in vehemently opposing the Trump administration's cruel treatment of asylum seekers at the border, including the separation of families, the caging of children, the recent uncovering of nonconsensual hysterectomies administered by ICE on detained vulnerable immigrant women, and the inhumane conditions thousands of immigrants are kept under by federal authorities. 

“We reiterate our commitment to immigration reform with a path to citizenship, especially for DREAMERS, young immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as part of undocumented families and whose migratory status remains in limbo. And we remain steadfast in solidarity with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican diaspora in Florida, who are still waiting for fair disaster recovery support after the most devastating hurricane in its history.”

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