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Father of environmental justice movement inspires young Black Canadians with his inspiration

Father of environmental justice movement inspires young Black Canadians with his inspiration

Father of environmental justice movement inspires young Black Canadians to take up baton and run with it

Robert Bullard was 40 years old when he designed a study on Houston’s solid waste disposal facilities. He didn’t know that he would one day inspire young Canadiansto fight environmental racism.

The class-action discrimination lawsuit based on the research of an African-American sociologist was based on his findings. He argued that it was no accident that Texas garbage dumps often end up near Black communities.

The 1979 case was a unique challenge to the location of a waste facility site. It claimed racial discrimination in civil rights law. It was dismissed because the judge did not see it as a race issue.

“The judge was white, about 150 years old,” Bullard told Laura Lynch from CBC Radio’s What is the Earth like?.”It was war. But it was the right fight.”

This case was considered to be the first “environmental racism” case. It argued that the decision not to permit a solid-waste facility near a predominantly Black Houston area was racial discrimination. The Case lawAlthough the experiment was unsuccessful, Bullard’s decades of research over the following years helped to create an environment justice movement that is still growing today.

Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice director Dr. Robert Bullard. He is often referred to by many as the “father” of the U.S. environmental justice movement. (Texas Southern University).

Last Wednesday, the federal Green Party presented Bill C-230 again. This renewed the call for a national strategy that addresses the harm caused to the environment by environmental racism.

In 2020, Nova Scotia Liberal MP LenoreZann first proposed the bill. However, the original bill was not approved by Parliament after that session ended.

Canada’s environmental racism is a reality

Ingrid Waldron, then associate professor at Dalhousie University, was the first to learn the term “environmental racist”.

Waldron learned that environmental racism refers to a form systemic racism that is the disproportionate exposure that Indigenous, Black, and other racialized people have to environmental hazards because of institutional policies and practices.

McMaster University professor of humanities was attracted to the issue by Canadian activists like Irvine and Eddie Carvery who protested the bulldozing Africville (a predominantly Black community in Nova Scotia) 50 years ago. The brothers won $3 million in compensation from the city.

Bullard was a character that Waldron came across while researching for a book. She is now her “hero.”

However, she felt like a “lone wolf” in Canada for 13 years when she spoke out about environmental racism in Nova Scotia Waldronsaid.

Ingrid Waldron is theHOPE chairin Peace and Health in Humanities, Hamilton’sMcMasterUniversity. Her research inspired Bill C-230 which calls for a national strategy in order to address the harm that environmental racism causes. (Steve Lawrence/CBC)

Waldron, theHOPE chairin Peace and Health in Humanities Hamilton’sMcMaster University, said “I kinda boldly called it and said: Let’s discuss environmental racism.”

Waldron stated that she is now being asked to speak on behalf of the environment.

After years of research into waste sites near Black communities in Lincolnville, Nova Scotia, shegets invites people from all over Canada and Europe to discuss the subject.

Waldron’sEnvironmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health (ENRICH ProjectFollowed the lead of activists like Louise Delisle in Nova Scotia and collected data through water tests to confirm that dumps and landfills are often located near African-Nova Scotian communities and Mi’kmaw communities, which have high rates of lung disease and cancer.

The dump was located in Shelburne, near Halifax, for many decades. Nearby residents were affected by high rates of cancer and other health issues. Ingrid Waldron, McMaster Humanities professor led a project to test the water in the area. It found potential cancer-causing contaminants. (CBC)

More Black youth need to be involved in environmentalism

Waldron and Naolo Charles founded the Canadian Coalition for Environmental & Climate Justice, (CCECJ), in 2020. The organization sent three Black interns to COP26 in the fall of 2020.

Charles stated that it was the first time a Canadian delegation had included Black youth at COP.

He stated, “We didn’t do it to make History.”

Waldron stated that she was shocked that this hadn’t been done before.

She stated that the “continual exclusion of Black youth specifically was problematic.” “It’s the young who are the most passionately involved in this issue.”

Waldron heard from the three interns, all of them young women, that their experiences at summit inspired them and caused them change their career focus, particularly after meeting Bullard in person.

From left, Robert Bullard (left), Tyjana Connolly, Lela Cantave and Alyson Doyle Braithwaite meet at the COP26 summit on climate in Glasgow, Scotland in the latter part of 2021. (Naolo Charles)

The ‘father’ of this movement

“I was just shocked. It was quite powerful to see him in person,” Alyson Braithwaite (23), said about meeting Bullard. She said Bullard is the “father of the environmental justice movement.” She is nearing graduation from Ryerson University, Toronto, and is studying U.S. Canadian policy.

The interns were disappointed to not see any other Black youth at 2021’s climate summit.

Tyjana Connolly (23), said, “When we’re not there, we’re left out of decision making.” She is a recent graduate of University of Calgary and works as a campaign coordinator with the Public Service Alliance of Canada. She also studies the effects of climate change on Somalia.

Lela Cantave is a McGill University graduate who stated, “I would like work with an organisation that really addresses issues in our communities racialized.”

We are often left out of the decision-making process if we aren’t there.-Tyjana CONNOLL, on the dearth of Black youth at the COP26 Climate Summit

Cantave, a Montreal-based intern/youth environmental justice lead for CCECJ has been developing a workshop about environmental justice and just transformation to be presented at union members across America. She is also available for media interviews by the CCECJ and works with the Climate Action Network as well as the Coalition of Black TradeUnionists.

Cantave (24 years old) says that her Saint-Michel neighbourhood has a vibrant Haitian population, but there are fewer parks, poorer quality air, and more noise pollution, than other areas of Montreal.

She is also passionate about helping international communities.

She said that Haiti was very vulnerable to climate change right now. “We must [make]More efforts to help these countries in need, who are literally without the means to combat it, should be made.

Fighting ‘Goliath’

Bullard had been fighting for environmental justice for decades, long before the terms environmental racism became more common.

Alabama-born sociologe faced inequalities firsthand as he grew up in a “red-lined community”.

The term “red-lined”, which dates back to 1930s, is a discriminatory banking practice that draws lines on government maps around areas that are predominantly Black or poor.

Bullard says that these communities were denied services including financing for sewer lines, street lighting, and even paved roads. The U.S. banned redlining in 1968. Fair Housing Act.

Bullard’s 1970s study, which mapped landfills as well as incinerators, convinced the ex-marine that too many toxic sites end up near Black communities.

“Blacks made up only 25% of the population [but]82% of the garbage that was dumped on Blacks was illegal. He said that it was an eye opener.

This research was the foundation of Bean vs. Southwestern Waste Management Corp. sued the city of Houston and the state of Texas. However, it lost its bid to prove that waste site placements were basedon racial discriminationunder civil rights law. Bullard was fighting the second largest waste management company inthe world with a host of high-paid lawyers against his small team.

Bullard said, “It wasn’t a war. We were fighting Goliath.”

These issues of environmental justice are now receiving greater attention.

WATCH | The push to address environmental racism in Canada:

Canada is seeing an increase in environmental racism.

The impact of environmental hazards on Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities has been greater than ever before. A private members bill calls for a national strategy that addresses and tracks instances of environmental racism. 2:20

Change requires ‘pressure’

Bullard is happy to see Canadians take up the baton.

“It takes pressure. This is not something that you should do. [U.S.]Federal government decided it wanted out of its own good will,” he said.

Bullard is inspired by three young Canadians who consider him a bit of rockstar.

“I believe that we can live healthy, resilient and sustainable lifestyles. That’s why we started this movement.

(CBC)

Written by Yvette Brend. Produced by Rachel Sanders.

You can find more stories about Black Canadians’ experiences, from anti-Black racism to success stories within Black communities, at Being Black in Canada. This CBC project is something Black Canadians can be proud off.More stories are available here.

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