Dear Eartha,
I'm a college student who is glad the Sierra Club is being explicitly anti-racist. I was wondering if the way the Civil Rights movement felt at the time is the way things feel today. Did people understand that environmentalism and racism are related injustices, the way we do now?
—One Young Member of the Beloved Community
Thank you for your letter, Beloved. I’m not sure that we all understand how environmentalism and racism are related. But most know to follow the money. The Sierra Club isn’t just being anti-racist, they are being strategically anti-racist. The leaders of the Sierra Club, like those who crafted the Civil Rights movement in the middle of the last century, perceive acutely the need now for a deeper commitment to ending the systemic racism of inequity and injustice. Police brutality is the tip of that iceberg. So is loosening EPA regulations, because who is harmed first by pollution and pandemics?
Youth are leading the way, as they did during the Civil Rights, Women’s Liberation, and Red Power Movements in earlier decades where nationwide protests lead to change. Now, perhaps more than at any other time in history—look at the global Black Lives Matter protests—the economic powerbrokers are getting on board. And this will make all the difference. Have you noticed all the companies who feed you information in your emails, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, who are sending out letters of solidarity with BLM? And how few people actually showed up to President Trump’s rally a few blocks away from Tulsa’s Black Wall Street?
Hop Hopkins advocated in his article in Sierra (5/25/2020) that “people of power and privilege should follow the lead of the communities in the front lines of this [pandemic] crisis.” Well, it appears those privileged people are beginning to see the economic advantage in stepping up. Is it a coincidence that, right now, more of us are people of color, biracial, LGBTQIA, and outspoken? Or that the Supreme Court just made it illegal to fire us based upon our sex?
Let’s remember, Beloved, that along with protesting we can also vote and that, still and always, sends a message. Let’s make sure we do.
With fist raised and on one knee,
Eartha
Eartha answers your questions about the Environment.
Dear Eartha is penned by Rita Bullinger.
She is a writer and columnist living in Nashville, TN.
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