Grassroots Groups Hold National Rally at 2000 CBC Conference

Washington, DC, September 18, 2000 -- This past weekend marked the 30th anniversary of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Legislative Conference. The event, held in the nation's capital, attracted thousands of African Americans from across the nation. Environmental justice was a major theme inside the CBC meeting halls as well as on the streets of Washington. Grassroots leaders came from California to New York to express solidarity with the CBC agenda. The groups committed themselves to turn back the conservative tide that would erode hard fought civil rights, equal opportunity, and environmental justice gains.

The Interim National Black Economic & Environmental Justice Coordinating Committee (INBEEJCC), a network of over 300 black organizations, held a rally in front of the Washington, DC Convention Center to highlight the plight of African American communities threatened by environmental pollution. The grassroots and national leaders called for an end to asthma, lead poisoning, cancer, and other environmental illnesses that plague our children and threaten our communities. Asthma, not gunshot wounds or drive-by shootings, is the number one reason for childhood emergency room visits in most major U.S. cities. Janet Phoenix, a physician and representative from the Northeast Environmental Justice Network, urged the groups to fight on to end childhood lead poisoning. "We are losing brain power to lead poisoning," said Dr. Phoenix.

All communities are not created equal. If a community happens to be poor, powerless, or inhabited largely by African Americans and other people of color, it receives less protection than the affluent white suburbs. "We can no longer afford to be silent. The future of our children is at stake," said Greenpeace organizer Damu Smith. Detroit environmental justice activist Donele Wilkens was even more emphatic about what black people must do. "We have to draw a line in the dirt, and say no more pollution."

"Grassroots mobilization is making a difference between getting dumped on and getting government to enforce the laws of the land," stated Robert Bullard, who directs the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. Bullard in his recent book, Dumping in Dixie, documents unequal protection offered African Americans. Communities of color are more likely to have polluting and life-threatening environmental hazards than white communities. Black neighborhoods, in particular, are inundated with landfills, petrochemical plants, waste incinerators, and contaminated sites.

Civil rights law is important to help remedy the environmental racism that is slowly destroying the vitality of our communities. Having strong environmental laws and getting them enforced are two different things. "Our community is unfairly targeted for landfills and garbage transfer stations," stated Ruth Wilson, who lives in a predominately black neighborhood in Washington, DC. Monique Harden, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, and Beverly Wright, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Xavier University, emphasized that black people do not have to live near a chemical plant, garbage dump, or toxic waste site to be victimized by environmental hazards. Life-threatening chemicals are in our food, air, water, and soil, and numerous products and materials in our homes and workplaces. Cancer, respiratory illnesses, and other health diseases associated with environmental pollution are on the rise.

The politics of pollution is also making us sick. Environmental justice is not a Democrat or Republican issue. This point was driven home by grassroots environmental justice activists from Texas and Tennessee. They challenged the presidential candidates and both major political parties to speak out for equal enforcement of our environmental, health, housing, transportation, land use, and civil rights laws. "We have been waiting for justice in West Dallas for 60 years. We have paid a high price for lead contamination," said Reverend R.T. Conley, who heads the grassroots group New Start. Ironically, Texas leads the nation in environmental racism complaints. Dorris Bradshaw shared her group's experience with the Memphis Army Depot, a federal facility that is located in the heart of a Memphis black community. "Justice has not come to the communities near the Depot."

Alonzo Spencer, a resident of East Liverpool, Ohio and Charlotte Keys of Columbia, Mississippi reminded the gathering about broken promises that were made by political officials who sought their votes four years ago. "We are tired of promises. Our people are sick. We want action now," said Keys.

Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI, which prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating against persons on account of race, color, or national origin. Racism is also rampant inside the EPA. Marsha Adebayo, an EPA employee, shared her victory with those gathered at the rally. Dr. Adebayo recently won a racial discrimination settlement against the U.S. EPA.

The Title VI law covers the U.S. EPA, established in 1970, and all fifty states. The agency issued Title VI implementing regulations in 1973 and amended them in 1984.

Beginning in 1992, communities began filing Title VI complaints. President Clinton signed the Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898 in 1994. By 1997, over two-dozen Title VI complaints had been filed with the EPA, prompting the agency to begin drafting Title VI guidance. The EPA also established the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council or NEJAC, under the Federal Advisory Committee Act or FACA, to study the problem. In June 2000, after eight years and 45 complaints (including the original five complaints filed in the early 1990s), EPA issued its Draft (Revised) Title VI Guidance.

There was general agreement among the participants that the EPA Draft Title VI Guidance is a "total disaster." The draft guidance fails to recognize that the concentration of waste sites and toxic facilities in communities of color is a form of racial discrimination that violates the civil rights of people of color who live in these communities, creates a difficult and highly technical standard of "proof" this is biased in favor of state environmental protection agencies and the industries that they regulate and grant permits, fails to recognize that any justification that can be offered by a state environmental agency must be limited to the substantial, legitimate interest of that agency, excludes communities of color from the appeal process-yet allowing states several appeal avenues, including appealing to an administrative judge.

By failing to recognize that African Americans and other people of color communities have been illegally targeted for toxic industries, the EPA has made a fundamental error and abandons established civil rights law-rights that were won in the streets, jails, and in the courts. The federal EPA should be in the business of protecting everyone and enforcing the law without regard to race, color, or national origin-rather than raising the legal bar and making it next to impossible to prove discrimination. The groups urged the EPA to scrap the draft Title VI guidance and start all over.

What you can do:

• Write President Bill Clinton, EPA Administrator Carol Browner, and your Congressional representative to let them know that you want strong civil rights protection for children and communities on the frontline of toxic pollution.
• Challenge the presidential candidates to take a strong stand for environmental justice, civil rights, and a toxic-free environment. Demand that we replace toxic industries with clean production facilities; some are already in operation in Europe, that minimize pollution and the use of toxic use of toxic chemicals.
• Send letters to your local newspapers that oppose the attack on civil rights protection and budget legislation that takes funds away from EPA in carrying out its duty to ensure that state environmental agencies do not discriminate.
• Support the efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus and other organizations that are working to ensure that the nation's environmental, health, housing, transportation, and civil rights laws are enforced equally without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender, and familial status.
• Become active in your local community, neighborhood association, civic group, and church.

For more information, Contact: Interim National Black Economic & Environmental Justice Coordinating Committee, 2040 S Street, NW, Washington, DC (202) 263-3265, ext. 230.

 

 
Environmental justice groups show their solidarity with the Congressional Black Caucus.

It's about protecting and preserving our future.

The Environmental Justice Memorial Quilt is a clear sign that
too many of our brothers and sisters have died.

The nation's environmental and civil rights laws must be enforced.

Even a child knows "environmental racism is illegal."

Dr. Adebayo proves that those who practice racial discrimination should pay. She recently won a $700,000 settlement against the federal EPA.