Interim National Black Environmental & Economic Justice Coordinating Committee
2040 S Street, NW, Suite 203, Washington, DC 20009 Tel: 202/265-3263 ext. 230 Fax: 202/234-0981

"The struggle for civil rights is not over!" EPA and local governments charged with failure to provide equal environmental protection to Blacks and other people of color

Click here to read the entire declaration, action plan, and partial list of speakers

Washington, D.C., January 13, 2000- Debilitating illness, deaths, and economic deprivation associated with toxic exposure was the topic of discussion at a press conference and community briefing held on Thursday, January 13th in the Mayor's Conference Room (441 4th Street, NW). In observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, some of the nation's foremost experts on environmental justice and victims of environmental contamination from across the country declared a National State of Emergency on Environmental Racism and Economic Injustice. Says Dr. Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, "It's time to confront the nation's leadership with the devastating health and economic impact of environmental racism. We are demanding immediate action and enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other equal protection laws."

Blacks and other people of color are almost 50% more likely than whites to live in communities with hazardous waste facilities. More frequently they are at greater risk for exposure to lead, pesticides, air pollution, toxic releases, water pollution, solid and hazardous waste, and raw sewage. The result is a health epidemic of enormous proportions: Black communities overburdened by pollution attribute their health problems-higher than average cancer rates, respiratory illness, birth defects and others-to toxic exposures near homes, churches, workplaces and schools.

A Memorial Quilt, which pays tribute to the victims of toxic exposure, was unveiled at the press conference. One panel of the quilt from a New Orleans community features an image of Sandra Denise Lewis, who died of cancer at 17 years of age. The Agriculture Street community was built on top of a former municipal dump in the early 1980s. Many residents believe that her death was caused by high levels of lead and arsenic, dioxin, chlordane and over 100 other toxins found in the soil and ground water during an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study. In 1992, nearly a decade later, the agency declared the community a Superfund site in 1992. Community members suffer from the highest breast cancer rate in the state of Louisiana. They also have other forms of cancer, various forms of brain and body tumors, and respiratory illness. Despite residents' demands for relocation, EPA implemented a voluntary clean up plan that included digging up two feet of toxic soil (although toxins where found 17 feet deep), laying a mesh cover, and replacing the soil with clean fill dirt. Most residents refused to participate in the "cover-up" plan that they believed put them at risk for further toxic exposure.

A 1992 study reported in the National Law Journal uncovered glaring inequities in the way the federal EPA enforces its laws. During its 30-year history the EPA has not always recognized that many government and industry practices (whether intended or unintended) have adverse impact on poor people and people of color. Responding to pressure from big industry interests and conservative political forces, the EPA and other federal agencies attempt to mitigate the seriousness of environmental racism. Instead of enforcing existing laws designed to ensure equal protection for all Americans, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EPA and other agencies focus on remediation. "Dr. King would be outraged by the lax enforcement of law that he and others fought and died for," laments Hazel Johnson, a resident of a polluted community in Chicago, IL. "The struggle for civil rights is not over!"

The press conference and community briefing, sponsored by the Interim National Black Environmental and Economic Justice Coordinating Committee (INBEEJCC), featured compelling testimonials by victims of environmental contamination; and an expert panel discussion of the policy implications of environmental racism and economic injustice. The Interim National Black Environmental and Economic Justice Coordinating Committee is a network of environmental justice advocates representing over 100 communities in 30 states across the country. The network was formed in December 1999 when over 200 Black environmental justice advocates met at an emergency summit in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

On December 9-12, 1999, over 200 black community leaders, activists, lawyers, educators, students, government officials, and scholars met in New Orleans, Louisiana to devise a strategy to combat the ongoing environmental crisis affecting our communities. We came from over 30 states throughout the country to participate in this first of its kind emergency gathering.

We unanimously decided that the time has come to develop a nationally coordinated strategy for action NOW.

Therefore, the Interim National Black Environmental and
Economic Justice Coordinating Committee
created by the
National Emergency Gathering of
Black Community Advocates for Environmental and Economic Justice
Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 9-12, 1999

declares a

National State of Emergency On Environmental Racism and Economic Injustice

We issue this declaration on this thirteenth day of January 2000 in tribute to our ancestor and hero, the great civil and human rights leader, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the anniversary of his birth. We bring this declaration on behalf of our deceased family and friends, and the suffering but courageous survivors of environmental racism and economic injustice in black communities, in other communities of color, and in poor communities throughout the United States and the world.

We come together in Washington, DC, the nation's capital, where critical decisions are made affecting our lives. We recall today the great March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his electrifying message that stirred the conscience of the nation regarding the urgency of making racial equality and racial justice a reality in American life. We, therefore, take this historic opportunity in the dawn of the new millennium to call the attention of the nation to the alarming and devastating crisis facing millions of black people every day.

We gather today to declare in no uncertain terms that a state of emergency, based on the clear and present danger of environmental racism and economic injustice, exists in our communities. Our communities and workplaces have become unsafe and unhealthy as a result of increasing pollution. We are sick and dying in neighborhoods that are engulfed by noxious odors, smoke spewed from incinerators, chemicals emitted from industrial plants, expansive landfills, military bases, nuclear facilities, weapons incinerators, contaminated soil, diesel exhaust fumes, lead dust, and pesticide sprays.

We make this declaration with the clear understanding that our Native American, Latino, and Asian sisters and brothers also suffer acutely from the scourge of environmental racism and environmental degradation. We stand in solidarity with them as part of a national movement for environmental and economic justice, fighting to end environmental racism. Our struggle for environmental and economic justice also includes residents of poor white communities that are disproportionately exposed to and victimized by environmental contamination and degradation. We issue this declaration with the full knowledge that all Americans and indeed all of humanity are negatively affected by the environmental degradation that besets this nation and the world.

While important strides due to pressure from citizens have been made in reducing environmental hazards and achieving environmental justice as a matter of government public policy, far too much remains undone. The current government/corporate policy framework is broken and needs to be fixed.

This framework perpetuates environmental degradation because it promotes or permits the clustering of polluting sources in people of color and poor communities; institutionalizes slow and piecemeal approaches to toxic emission reductions; defends dirty economic production practices; develops risk assessments that are biased in favor of polluting industries; emphasizes a preference for pollution controls that are ineffective and disregards pollution prevention; undermines laws that can be used to protect our neighborhoods and environment; and caters to exploitative business practices that plunder and deplete our nation's limited national resources.

Environmental Racism Is Real

Environmental racism is real. Since the 1970ís, a growing body of studies has clearly demonstrated that black communities and other communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of the pollution problems in the United States. These studies have documented that race ó not income, property value, or other indicators ó is the single most significant determinative factor in the siting of toxic facilities and lax environmental enforcement. Residents of our communities are at greater risk of suffering from environmental-related health disorders than are residents of predominantly white communities.

Minister Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, formerly of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice and a pioneer in the environmental justice movement, defined environmental racism as:

racial discrimination in environmental policymaking,...racial discrimination in the enforcement of regulations and laws,...racial discrimination in the deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste disposal and the siting of polluting industries,racial discrimination in the official sanctioning of the life-threatening presence of poisons and pollutants in communities of color,and racial discrimination in the history of excluding people of color from decision-making.

The evidence of racially disproportionate siting of toxic facilities, lack of access by people of color to planning decisions, and injury to entire communities and workers demonstrate that places where people of color live, work, learn, worship, and play are also home to America's worst environmental problems.

Race Matters

The 1983 Congressionally authorized General Accounting Office (GAO) study revealed that 3 out of 4 of the off-site, commercial hazardous waste landfills in the southeast U.S. are located within predominantly African American communities, although African Americans make up only one-fifth of the region's population.

The 1987 landmark study Toxic Waste and Race by the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (UCC-CRJ) -- the first national study to correlate waste facility sites and demographic characteristics -- found that race was the most significant factor in determining where waste facilities are located. Among other things, the study revealed that 3 out of 5 African Americans and Hispanic Americans live in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites and that 15 million African Americans lived in communities with at least one site. Toxic Waste and Race Revisited, an update on the findings in the original UCC-CRJ's investigation, found that the situation worsened with a substantial increase in the percentage of blacks living in zip codes with toxic sites.

A 1992 study by the National Law Journal, Unequal Protection, uncovered glaring racial disparities in the way the Environmental Protection Agency enforces its laws:

There is a racial divide in the way the U.S. government cleans up toxic waste sites and punishes polluters. White communities see faster action, better results and stiffer penalties than communities where blacks, Hispanics and other minorities live. This unequal protection often occurs whether the community is wealthy or poor.

The Institute of Medicine released Toward Environmental Justice: Research, Education, and Health Policy Needs in 1999. The report concluded that government, public health officials, the medical and scientific communities need to place a higher value on the problems and concerns of environmental justice communities. The report is further confirmation, yet again, that blacks, other people of color, and low-income communities are exposed to higher levels of pollution than the rest of the nation, and experience certain diseases in greater number than more affluent white communities.

Our Communities Are in Crisis

Mounds of statistics alone do not convey the environmental crisis we face every day. A crisis is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a time of danger and great difficulty." Among the dangers in our communities is extraordinarily high levels of toxic pollution. Many of the nation's dirtiest zip codes, where toxic releases are high, happen to be inhabited mostly by black people. Zoning decisions, which are not controlled by impacted residents, have allowed huge chemical and nuclear plants, oil refineries, military bases, and waste disposal facilities to be built, in some cases, a few yards away from homes, schools and churches in predominantly black communities. These are the toxic prisons and ghettos of America.

In the most extreme cases of environmental racism and destruction, three Louisiana black communities -- Sunrise, Reveilletown and Morrisonville -- no longer exist because of toxic contamination from nearby plants. The toxic destruction of these towns that were founded by blacks freed from slavery seriously fractured the cultural and social fabric of these tight-knit communities.

Hardly a day passes without one of our communities reporting to public officials, environmental groups, or the media its fight to stop a chemical plant, garbage dump, landfill, incinerator or some other polluting industry. From New York to Los Angeles, from Chicago to Louisiana's infamous "Cancer Alley," and the many cities and towns in between, black communities face some of the worst environmental and health problems imaginable.

Many of our neighborhoods are danger zones where we are forced to live like prisoners in our own homes to avoid the smell of putrid odors, the metallic taste in our mouths, and the effects of airborne toxins on our bodies.  Some of us depend on medically prescribed respiratory devices and medicine that help us, especially our children and elderly, cope with a polluted environment.

Because of the pollution, many of us no longer host outdoor social activities like barbecue cook-outs and birthday parties.  We rarely sit on our porches or play in our yards.  Religious practices, such as river baptisms, have had to stop because of contamination of our rivers and streams.

Routine chemical explosions, fires, and spills from nearby plants spew toxic and radioactive substances around our homes, churches, schools, playgrounds and day care centers.  Some explosions rock homes in the middle of the night, causing property damage, increased health threats, fear and panic, and death. Sometimes our church activities have been disrupted by toxic releases, facility accidents, or the discovery of contamination. Even though we are sickened by the toxins released during facility accidents, the industries typically announce to the public that their toxins did not go off the plant site.

Traffic from cargo freight trains, trucks, and ships carrying toxic products and wastes is heavy in our neighborhoods.  Vehicular accidents often cause chemical and waste spills that result in emergency evacuations, traffic tie-ups, and official orders not to leave home.  Train delays blocking key access routes cause people to be late for work or school, and create the risk of blocking emergency medical or fire fighting services.  Interstates and freeways that cut through our urban neighborhoods are a source of significant vehicle emissions.   Diesel buses idle for long periods of time near our homes, releasing a daily dose of toxic emissions.   Planes spraying pesticides dump these poisons on our rural homes. 

A Crisis of Economic Devastation

The environmental degradation in our communities negatively affects every aspect of our lives, including our economic well-being. Because of toxic contamination, many of us who live in rural and semi-rural areas have had to curtail or stop altogether certain subsistence practices such as fishing, gardening, hunting, and farming ó practices which have provided critical financial support and nourishment to our families.

Despite the nation's recent economic boom, the promise of jobs and economic prosperity has rung hollow for us. Blacks are twice as likely to be unemployed as whites. Urban inner city black teenage employment remains a national disgrace. Poverty among urban blacks has stagnated, while declining significantly for all other groups.

Industrial companies gain entry into our communities with the promise of new jobs, but we get few or none of these jobs. The few black residents who work at the plants are typically hired on a temporary contract basis with inadequate safety training and no benefits; or they hold the lowest paying and most hazardous jobs at the facilities. Most of the employees at these plants do not live in our community. At the end of a work shift, there is a long line of traffic of plant workers driving out of our communities to their homes.

Moreover, black people more often than not work in the most dangerous and polluted environments. The lowest paid jobs are in many cases the most life-threatening to us. In fact, workers are the first to be exposed to dangerous chemicals and hazardous materials.

Empowerment zones, which give federal tax incentives for business development in our communities, have been exploited by polluting industries that do not improve conditions, but give us more negative impacts. Among states, Louisiana stands out for its tax policies that provide an average $1 million in tax breaks for every one job offered by certain major oil refineries and chemical companies. These tax incentives reward polluters and deprive communities of much needed revenues for schools, infrastructure, and other public services.

The industrialization of our residential neighborhoods is a form of housing discrimination. Because of the invasion of industrial polluters and related environmental degradation, our property values have depreciated to the point where our land is worth little or nothing. The value of our property is on a downward spiral as industries continue to expand and the level of pollution and contaminated areas increases. The result is another form of black land loss, a crisis that black farmers have brought to national attention.

A major part of the American dream of success ó the ownership of homes, property, land and businesses ó has eluded millions of blacks. Little more than half of the nation's middle-class blacks own their homes, compared with nearly 3 out of 4 whites. Racial discrimination in housing and lending denies a substantial segment of the black community a basic form of wealth accumulation and investment through home ownership. The current generation of blacks has lost $82 billion due to discrimination, a large measure the result of discrimination in housing. Of this total, $58 billion was lost from lack of housing appreciation, $10.5 billion from paying higher mortgage rates, and $13.5 billion from the denial of mortgages.

Black land loss and racial discrimination against black farmers have become a major economic and environmental justice issue. Land loss in the black community has deprived black people of an essential natural resource to produce safe food and generate wealth. Discriminatory government lending policies and land confiscation schemes have made it impossible for black farmers to survive. Indeed, the black farmer has become an "endangered species" in the last century.

Housing discrimination, inequitable lending policies, and government decisions on zoning and land use, transportation, and distribution of services are critical factors combining to structure black neighborhoods in spatially differentiated metropolitan areas where we are segregated from other Americans, and receive fewer public and private resources. Millions of us are trapped in economically depressed and polluted urban neighborhoods, forced to feel the impact of racial inequity every day.

Because of where we live, we are less able to take advantage of the tremendous economic growth concentrated in suburban areas and special government benefits that go along with residence in the suburbs. Each year, as much as $90 billion in tax subsidies underwrite suburban homeowners, but not urban dwellers. This middle class entitlement is by far the broadest and most expensive welfare program in the United States.

Many of us have nothing left to lose. These economic conditions prevent many of us from moving away because the depreciation of our homes compounded with discrimination by financial and governmental institutions block our ability to move out and buy new homes in a clean and safe environment. Many of us are simply too poor to pick up and move. When we do move out or pass on, the industrial plants purchase our land at a steal. Black senior citizens living on fixed incomes have the added hardship of looking for employment or other sources of income to afford the expenses of moving out and taking on a new mortgage for another home.

Together, these inequities combine to reinforce our lack of wealth and power. Homeowners of more affluent neighborhoods are in a better position to oppose the siting of hazardous facilities in "their backyards." It is much more difficult for blacks in less affluent areas to declare "not in my backyard" when we do not own our backyards. Polluting industries are much more likely to locate communities where they will have the least resistance. Big business and local government repeatedly take advantage of this lack of political and economic power in economically-depressed and marginalized communities.

Opponents of environmental justice ignore these realities when they argue that black communities and our allies compromise economic development by protesting the siting of toxic facilities and demanding civil rights protections against environmental injustices. The unfortunate truth is that polluting industries have increased our poverty and left our communities more economically underdeveloped, polluted and sicker than ever before.

We are clearly demanding jobs and economic development, but not at the expense of our health and overall quality of life. What good is a job or a polluting facility, we ask, if it makes us sick or disabled, prevents us from enjoying recreational activities where we live, or causes us to die early from toxic exposure? Black and other communities of color need sustainable growth opportunities that contribute to our quality of life.

A Black Community Health Crisis

The environmental justice movement is borne out of the pain of deteriorating health that is associated with toxic pollution. Medical and scientific research shows that the residents of our communities suffer from debilitating diseases, eye and skin irritations, asthma attacks and upper respiratory illnesses, chronic headaches, as well as other health problems caused by chemical air emissions, water and soil contamination, and noise pollution. Children and seniors are the most vulnerable to toxic emissions. National studies have linked air pollution to higher rates of asthma among blacks, especially children. Lead poisoning continues to be a lingering problem. This health crisis, due in large part to environmental injustice, affects all Americans in increased insurance costs and lower productivity.

One of the most alarming examples of the impact of this crisis on our communities are the results of a recent federal government study. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found significantly high levels of dioxin in the blood of residents in Mossville, Louisiana, a predominantly African American community that is surrounded by several dioxin-emitting PVC chemical plants and oil refineries.

Dioxin is one of the most dangerous toxins known to science. At low levels, dioxin causes severe health damage by impairing the hormone system, suppressing the immune system and causing reproductive disorders, among other health problems. The fact that the levels of dioxin are so high in the bodies of tested Mossville residents is tragic proof of how hazardous industrial operations and the failure of government to act can literally destroy people.

Lead is America's silent killer. Lead poisoning remains the number one environmental health threat to American children. According to the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1.7 million children are lead poisoned. At every income level, Black children are contaminated at twice the rate of white children. One out of every 4 low-income Black children are poisoned with lead compared to less than 1 out of every 10 poor white children.

The risk for lead exposure in children is primarily determined by environmental conditions in the home. Lead-based paint chips and dust are the most common sources of lead poisoning in children. Too many black children live in old inner-city homes with lead paint that endangers their health. Children may also be exposed through soil and dust contamination from vehicle exhaust, lead concentration in urban soil, and lead dust on their parents' work clothes. The mental and physical health of the millions of lead poisoned black youth continues to be disregarded. Instead of being a haven, home represents a toxic environment.

Asthma is an epidemic affecting millions of Americans. However, black children are its most frequent victims. The annual death rate from asthma increased 40 percent between 1982 and 1991, with the highest death rates among black youth 15 to 24 years old. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the asthma rate among black children is 26 times higher than that among white children. The hospitalization rate for black asthma sufferers is 3 to 4 times the rate for whites, and blacks are 2 to 6 times more likely to die from asthma.

Asthma sufferers are particularly sensitive to carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxides, particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen oxides. These toxins are commonly found at high concentrations in black communities that have industrial facilities. Ground-level ozone has been shown to exacerbate asthma, as well as other respiratory problems such as nasal congestion, throat irritation, respiratory tract inflammation, suppressed immunity, changes in cell function, decreased lung elasticity, chest pains, lung scarring, lesions on the lungs, and premature aging of lung tissues.

Some of the scientifically known health effects of the toxins released in our black communities include respiratory ailments, heart problems, reproductive disorders, and impaired development of the immune system and hormones. The effect of continuous and daily exposure to the multitude of those dangerous toxins that total millions of pounds per year is unknown. Scientific research is limited to analyzing the health effects of one chemical at a time and cannot determine the exact cumulative and synergistic effects of these chemicals. This shortcoming is used by industries and policymakers to continue the harmful practice of clustering toxic sites in communities of color. Without scientific certainty as to the exact health effects of all these chemicals, they argue, there is no proof that this pollution must be prevented.

We reject polices and practices that place the burden on people to prove the exact effects of toxic chemicals. For the last five years, this country has failed to satisfy the human rights standard of the precautionary principle, which calls for action to be taken to prevent harm even when science has not established with complete certainty all the facts pointing to potential or actual danger.

Environmental Racism Violates Civil and Human Rights

While the Environmental Protection Agency has recently announced some important resources to reduce some forms of pollution, neither government nor industry is implementing or even contemplating instituting the kind of urgent and fundamental measures we believe are necessary to stem the tide of toxic terror ravaging our communities.

The civil rights movement firmly established a federal prohibition against racial discrimination that is codified in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Specifically, Title VI mandates that

no person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

This civil rights law also applies to environmental decision-makers that receive federal funds.

All Americans have a right to equal protection under the law, including environmental law. Our constitution, federal civil rights laws, and international human rights laws guarantee this right. However, governmental efforts to ensure this protection against environmental injustice and civil rights violations have been ineffective, non-existent or slow at best. If Title VI was vigorously enforced in environmental matters, communities of color would receive a significant measure of the equal environmental protection to which we are all entitled. Because of corporate polluter's disregard for the health of communities of color and the failure of government to act responsibly, the civil rights of people of color are violated.

To make matters worse, environmental justice and civil rights protections are under attack in Congress. This attack is fueled by polluting industries and conservative right-wing politicians, who are all seeking to maintain the unfair status quo. It is no coincidence that the same individuals responsible for the attack on affirmative action are also actively lobbying, placing expensive anti-environmental justice advertisements in major newspapers, and exerting other forms of influence to roll back the important gains that people of color and our allies have struggled to achieve. They have a clear agenda to deny blacks and other people of color opportunities that have been historically denied by institutionalized racism.

Some members of Congress have taken a backdoor approach to attacking environmental justice and civil rights. These members have introduced "riders" to the 1999 and 2000 federal spending budgets that take funds away from the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Riders are created by Congressional committees and are tacked onto the federal budget without floor debate by the full Congress or other opportunities for citizen participation. The anti-Title VI riders set a dangerous precedent for similar legislation that takes funds away from other federal civil rights offices and programs involving education, employment, and housing.

The Time Is Now, Not Later for Effective Action

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the failure of government to move quickly to end racial segregation "the tranquilizing drug of gradualism." Dr. King emphasized the need for action by the nation to move "now" to "make real the promise of democracy and rise from the dark valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice."

Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 while on an economic and environmental justice mission for the striking black garbage workers demanding justice "now." We need environmental justice now ó not later ó to end the environmental, health, and economic crisis in our communities. The failure of the nation to act now to end this crisis, and an ever growing effort by sinister and conservative political forces to undermine the few gains we have been able to achieve within the past two decades are at the root of the current emergency we face.

We recognize today that our struggle for environmental justice is part of the ongoing struggle for civil and human rights. This problem and its devastating consequences persist into the new millennium with no end in sight. Unless immediate, urgent, and effective measures are taken by the federal, state, and local governments and private industry ó which will only come because of pressure from the people of our nation ó we will enter the next century with even more graveyards filled with the victims of cancer and other diseases related to toxic exposure. If we don't act now to chart a new course, more American children will enter hospitals with skyrocketing cases of asthma because of air pollution, or become learning disabled because of the lingering but preventable problem of lead poisoning.

The Future of the Black Community Is at Stake

Environmental racism and economic injustice, as described above, jeopardizes the lives and health of residents of affected communities, compromises the civil and fundamental human rights of black people, undermines the quality of life of all Americans, and threatens the very survival of the black community.

We declare today that we will not accept having to live through the next century and jeopardize our future generations under the conditions we describe here. We demand that urgent steps be taken now to end environmental racism and economic injustice and avert further environmental disaster for people of color and all people.

In commemoration of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, we hereby declare a national state of emergency on environmental racism and economic injustice and pledge to live his legacy by working for racial justice, economic justice, social justice and environmental justice for all Americans.

On the Path to Environmental Justice

In order to address this crisis, some important actions must include the following:

• Government and industry policies aimed at reducing and preventing pollution and all forms of environmental degradation. This should include clean production and sustainable economic practices, involving the use of clean technology applications and materials uses, safe recycling and reuse of materials, advanced procedures to safely eliminate or substantially reduce existing environmental toxins, and use of alternative energy resources.

   

• Vigorous enforcement of environmental protection, civil rights and equal protection laws to end racial disparities in environmental protection.

   

• Zoning policies and laws that respect residential neighborhoods and end the practice of siting polluting industries and excessive transportation routes near residential areas.

   

• Health policies and programs that emphasize disease prevention and recognize environmental health as a major issue that must be addressed in order to ensure healthy and viable communities.

   

• Emergency and long-term financial assistance to promote health monitoring and health care for communities suffering from acute environmental contamination.

   

• Housing, transportation, and finance policies and practices that support blacks, other people of color and the poor in our efforts to build sustainable communities in a non-racially segregated environment.

top of page 

The INBEEJCC 2000 Action Plan

The INBEEJCC Action Plan includes the following activity, which will be launched this year:

• Meet with Anne Goode, Director of Office of Civil Rights at EPA, to demand the vigorous enforcement of Title VI to ensure equal protection of communities of color.

   

• Call for a status report on the President's Executive Order on Environmental Justice; and join activities planned by other environmental justice activists of color around the anniversary of the Executive Order on February 11, 2000.

   

• Mobilize the black community and other allies to respond to the Superfund Relocation Policy including participation in the national multi-stakeholder meeting on Superfund to be held in March 2000.

   

• Organize activities around Earth Day 2000 which will include helping to organize the second annual Congressional Symposium on Environmental Justice.

   

• Develop a black community position paper on clean production and sustainable economic development.

   

• Develop a plan for mobilizing black community participation in Census 2000 and black voter registration and turn out in 2000 elections.

   

• Develop a nationwide program of youth mentorship and leadership development.

   

• Mobilize for participation in the UN world conference against racism in 2001 to raise the visibility of environmental racism internationally.

 top of page 

 

Partial List of Speakers

Nationally-known experts who participated in the event include:

Dr. Robert Bullard, author of nine books that address environmental justice, civil rights, housing, urban land use, facility siting, toxic waste, community reinvestment, and transportation. His book, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality (Westview Press, 2000), is a standard text in the environmental justice field.

Dr. Beverly Wright, an environmental justice expert who has studied the environmental crisis and its impact on the poor, Black communities along Louisiana's infamous "Cancer Alley."

Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, an economist and economic development expert who is featured in the January issue of Black Enterprise.

Monique Harden, an attorney who co-wrote a landmark citizen's complaint evoking the President's Executive Order on Environmental Justice and civil rights law to protect the black community of Covent, LA opposing the Shintech PVC plant. Ms. Harden will be featured in the May issue of Essence Magazine as one of the most influential Black women of the year.

Damu Smith, a national environmental justice policy advocate and Greenpeace campaigner whose work was recently cited in Life and Essence magazines. Smith also was co-keynote speaker of the National Town Hall Meeting on Managed Care at the Congressional Black Caucus Weekend last September.

Victims of environmental contamination include:

Edgar Mouton from Mossville, LA. In Mr. Mouton's community which is located near 53 plants, government health officials recently discovered levels of dioxin in the blood of residents that are higher than the national levels. Dioxin, a known carcinogen, is listed by the World Health Organization as one of the most dangerous toxins known to science.

Hazel Johnson from Chicago, IL. Ms. Johnson is one of the early pioneers in exposing and documenting health hazards caused by toxic exposure. Her community, Altgeld Gardens, is commonly referred to as the "toxic donut" because of the numerous polluting facilities surrounding the area.

Charlotte Keys, Columbia, MS. Ms. Keys lives in a community adjacent to a Superfund site where children have been found with strange growths on their bodies, numerous birth defects, and chronic skin rashes after bathing.

Doris Bradshaw, Memphis, TN. Ms. Bradshaw's community is near a contaminated military storage depot that has created widespread health problems for area residents.

 

For more information contact:
Kim Freeman, INBEEJCC Communications Coordinator at 202-265-3263 ext. 230,
or Damu Smith, INBEEJCC Coordinator at 202-319-2410.

top of page