For Further Information: January 18, 2000 Kim Freeman, Preamble Center INBEEJCC Communications 202-265-3263 ext. 230 Damu Smith, Greenpeace INBEEJCC Coordinator 202-319-2410

Washington, DC 1/15/99-"We come this day, in this place, in the seat of this nation's government to declare that toxic terrorism is being waged against the descendants of African people." With these words Dr. Mildred McClain from Savannah, GA, was joined by other victim/activists and experts from across the country in issuing a Declaration of a National State of Emergency on Environmental Racism and Economic Injustice at a press conference and community briefing in Washington, DC last week.

The 14-page Declaration cites facts from numerous reports supporting the notion that Black communities and other communities of color are disproportionately overburdened with nearby hazardous waste sites, incinerators, petrochemical plants, lead contamination, dirty air, and contaminated drinking water. The studies confirm that 3 out of 4 off-site commercial hazardous waste landfills in the southeast U.S. are located within predominantly African American communities, although blacks make up only one-fifth of the region's population. In 1987, 15 million African Americans lived in communities with at least one toxic waste site. In more recent years, researchers discovered that the situation worsened with a substantial increase in the percentage of blacks living in zip codes with toxic sites. The alarming rates of asthma among black children was also cited. Asthma is known to have environmental triggers. Click here to view the entire declaration.

Victim/activists including Doris Bradshaw from Memphis, Tennessee, Evelyn Yates from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Edgar Mouton from Mossville, Louisiana gave stirring testimony about the harmful effects of toxic exposure due to the military, chemical, and PVC industrial complexes near their homes. Donele Wilkins of Detroit, Michigan believes that some elected officials have sacrificed environmental protection for economic development. According to Wilkins, "the greatest assault on environmental justice in the nation emerges from the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit." She credits her mayor, Dennis Archer, as an architect of local and national efforts to dismantle environmental justice policy.

Armed with sobering statistics, compelling testimonials from victims of toxic exposure, and a Memorial Quilt commemorating the loss of life, members of the National Black Environmental and Economic Justice Coordinating Committee (NBEEJCC) vowed to "finish Dr. King's dream" and confront the nation's leadership with the devastating health and economic impact of environmental racism. The Coordinating Committee claims that environmental racism perpetuates economic deprivation and has turned poor communities into "toxic prisons and ghettos." Land loss, plummeting property values, lack of jobs and adequate housing are exacerbated by environmental factors. Furthermore, well-financed attacks on environmental justice policies and advocacy by industry and conservative political forces in the name of economic development put Black communities at risk. Conservative politicians in Congress, for instance, successfully have prevented the use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a guidance for investigating Black community complaints of environmental racism.

The network of environmental justice advocates representing over 100 polluted communities in 30 states also used the King Holiday to reveal its 2000 Action Plan. This year the NBEEJCC will launch activities designed to foster vigorous enforcement of environmental projection law; government and industry policies aimed at reducing pollution and environmental degradation; and health policies and programs that emphasize disease prevention and recognize environmental health as a major issue that must be addressed. Remarked Damu Smith, Interim NBEEJCC Coordinator, "This is the first time blacks are coordinating a national strategy with all of our communities working together."

The NBEEJCC also issued a call to action, imploring all African Americans, people of color, and people of good will to come together and demand equal protection for communities plagued by toxic contamination. "We need to flex our political and economic muscle to turn back the conservative attacks [on environmental justice]," said Dr. Robert Bullard, Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University and author of nine books on environmental justice. "Blacks now number over 40 million or 13 percent of the population. We have an annual purchasing power nationwide of more than $440 million." Dr. Beverly Wright, director of the Deep South Center on Environmental Justice at Xavier University in New Orleans, delivered these chilling words: "In the past we marched and died for freedom. In the new millennium we must march because we are dying."

In response to the appeal, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Selwin Cox, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees offered an emotional, impromptu statement of solidarity. Said Dr. Coleman-Adebayo, "...there are Black employees at EPA who are very concerned and who are struggling very hard around environmental justice issues. As soon as the agency finds out that we have real commitments to the people who have put us in office because of the Civil Rights Movement and because our accountability is to our communities, we are quickly targeted. We stand with our brothers and sisters and will fight with you every inch of the way." The room burst into thunderous applause.

This event was the first public action of the newly-formed NBEEJCC, which was created last December at an emergency summit in New Orleans, Louisiana. Later this month, Coordinating Committee will convene in Jacksonville, Florida to further refine its strategy. The group is networking already with black environmental justice activists in Jacksonville and plans to conference with local activists and hold a rally in a show of solidarity there. Meetings also have been scheduled with Anne Goode, Director of EPA's Office on Civil Rights, to discuss the agency's upcoming Final Guidance on Title VI.

To view the entire declaration, list of speakers and action plan, click here.

For more information on the National Black Environmental and Economic Justice Coordinating Committee, please call 202-265-3263 ext. 230.