DELICIA HOLDER
Special to The Leader
Why does equality matter? Why does justice matter? Why do they decide my fate?
On Sept. 26 in King Concert Hall, Fredonia was gifted the opportunity to hear from the father of environmental justice, Robert Bullard.
This lecture began with a speech from University President Virginia Horvath. She opened with the preamble of the U.S Constitution. Quoting the promise of liberty and justice for all without exclusions or exceptions.
Following Horvath’s introduction, The Native American Student Union reminded the audience of a time last year when everyone in Fredonia, both on campus and within the community, spent days without access to fresh water due a water main break in town. Although people on campus were provided with bottled water, you never truly miss fresh, fast and clean water until you have to brush your teeth with a bottle of water. This reminder acted as a premise to a discussion about what millions of people go through on a daily basis in other parts of our own country.
Bullard is an African American environmental sociologist and writer. He obtained his masters degree in Sociology from Atlanta University and his PhD at Iowa State University. Bullard is the author of eighteen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, emergency response, smart growth and regional equity. He refers to all of these as one book because they are based on “Fairness, Justice and Equity.”
At the Convocation lecture, Bullard walked the audience through the history of environmental injustice in America through each one of his 18 books.
This started with his 1978 book “Invisible Houston,” as this was the beginning of his career fighting for equity and against environmental racism. This book is about the people they didn’t talk about in the ‘boom and bust’ economic rollercoaster of 1978 in Houston, Texas. It was Houston’s largest black community in the south at the time that suffered in silence. They had no power against the waste plants in their neighborhoods and so they suffered from polluted water.
“Approximately 25% of the population is black and about 82% of the waste is dumped in or near their neighborhoods,” said Bullard.
The community had to protest, to fight back against the power that was oppressing them. Everyone from men, women and children had to hit the streets to earn back their right to clean water.
Although this was spoken about briefly in all of his books, “Dumping in Dixie,” which was published in 1990, was the first book to document the connection between waste dumping, pollution, income and race. When this was first read by publishers, no one wanted to publish it.
“They didn’t believe me when I said environmental injustice was a thing,” said Bullard. How could they? No one considered it a reality at the time that Bullard was doing his research.
This book later went on the become a textbook in schools. It was the first book, at the time, that spoke about environmental justice.
This sparked the beginning of a movement. Many others emerged, all fighting for the same cause which was to make sure everyone had fair access to water.
In 1991, the University of Michigan held the first ever Race and Environment Conference is which they planned the first People of Color EJ Summit to inform and try to find solutions to the issue. They expected about 400 people and got 1,000 people showing up to show their support for this new emerging cause.
In 2002, they expanded and held their second summit organized by 12 women. In 2003 they were finally able clean up the waste from the Warren County PCB landfill in 1982, 21 years later.
After this Bullard continued down the timeline, giving more examples of the environmental injustice that was, and still is, happening across the country. He showed the maps and statistic, breaking them down to explain why southern states are more likely to be susceptible to disease, natural disasters and drought.
“It is no accident that the modern civil rights and environmental justice movements were born in the south — fighting racism.” Historically, fighting that systematic racism has been seen in several aspects of life — education, jobs, the right to vote, the right to a fair judicial system and now the right to clean water.
“Where you live can strongly affect how you long you live.” In “The Wrong Complexion for Protection,” Bullard talked about this. He discussed how people of color had to learn a long time ago not to wait for the government to help you in hazardous situations. You have to help yourself.
In closing Bullard encouraged us to learn about these things and start doing something about it.
“It takes a village,” Bullard said. “Students have a major role to play.” Take