Teaching Black History Is Exposing the Presences of White Historic Fantasies Including Those About Climate Justice!
Many individuals took a stand against environmental injustices in Black communities. Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Robert Bullard, and Colonel Charles Young are three notable conservationists and environmentalists. They worked towards providing Black communities access to clean air, water, and safe living conditions. Black leadership has been warning the powers that be for over a century about the danger a lack of concern about the environment presents and that avarice and neglect of the land could eventually lead to the country's downfall!
"Indeed, a journey through this park and the Sierra Forest Reserve to the Mount Whitney country will convince even the least thoughtful man of the needfulness of preserving these mountains just as they are, with their clothing of trees, shrubs, rocks, and vines, and of their importance to the valleys below as reservoirs for storage of water for agricultural and domestic purposes. In this, lies the necessity of forest preservation." (Captain Charles Young in Report of the Acting Superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant National Parks, California, October 15, 1903)
Environmental Justice is defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. When it comes to Environmental Justice the poorest neighborhoods usually those populated primarily by BIPOC people are overlooked when it comes time to spend their tax dollars in support of the well-being of their neighborhoods. More often than not, city governments will spend money to find out in studies how cohesive a marginalized community is on specific subjects like Black History Month, Abortion, or gentrification efforts.
Half of all African Americans, but only 20 percent of whites, in public school attend central-city schools. And these schools are either underfunded or the monies spent are aimed at subjects and programs that do not benefit the child economically after graduation. The Supreme Court framed racial segregation as the cause of educational inequality. It did not, however, challenge the lengths to which states went to ensure the unequal funding of Black schools. The legacy of our history informs many in education that if given equal footing children not phenotypically aligned with the current top of the socio-economic ladder could easily attain positions of power and influence. This is why many Caucasians will take their children out of schools primarily populated with Asians who were not as adversely affected by systemic racism as Black and Brown communities until recently as they are now perceived as a threat as well because of their willingness to unite despite familial nationality.
Increased spending improves college attendance rates, graduation rates and test scores. But, as a 2018 report revealed, school districts enrolling “the most students of color receive about $2,000, or 15%, less per student” than districts serving the fewest students of color. In 2023 A study showed that in Massachusetts there was a significant racial divide in spending on school facilities. Districts with a majority white student population got about $10,000 per student for school projects, the Boston Globe found, while districts made up mostly of Black students got about $6,400 per student. Student environment and curriculum in Black communities are less conducive to success and the propensity to vilify students or put them in categories assuming they require mind altering drugs in order to be taught further exacerbates an already unequal system.
A side of environmentalism that is often overlooked within the outdoor community: Black environmentalism. In the context of education this can bring a lot of students out of a psychologically and performance hindering situation, similar to how the arts and music allow students to expand the use of critical thinking skills Environmentalism enlarges the world beyond the blue light ridden classrooms of many inner cities.
In 2022 in over 46 of 50 states, local school funding schemes drove more resources to middle-and upper income students than those most in need students. The local funding gap between districts mostly serving white middle-income versus poorer students in New Jersey, for example, is $3,460 per pupil. While state and federal programs often send leftover additional funds to poor students, they are insufficient to fully meet the needs of low-income students. "Inclusive Education" focused schools don't allow this inequity of spending and thus every student gets an adequate education.
Exclusivity in education has its own negative consequences particularly for BIPOC children, children with disabilities, children with a migrant background and other children due to their social or personal circumstances (such as children living in institutions and children in the juvenile justice system). Despite existing anti-discrimination legislation and policies, the practice of separating groups of pupils in specific schools or classes may even be growing, including as a result of the current increase in the arrival of migrants and refugees!
Then, during the Jim Crow era, localism became the tool to reverse Black progress and equality. States increased reliance on local taxation, gave local white officials discretion over state funds, and constitutionally secured segregation. Some went so far as to craft color-coded funding systems where white taxes funded white schools exclusively. Simultaneously, the emergence of Black environmentalism gained momentum during the Civil Rights era. Environmental justice began with the Civil Rights Movement and in turn, the people who were at the forefront of that movement, including Fannie Lou Hamer.
Hamer was a pioneer of grassroots farming cooperatives that inspired current urban agriculture collectives. She believed in communal farming as a solution to economic justice and formed the Freedom Farm Cooperative (FFC) in 1969. This organization provided food for low-income families in the area and land that helped create jobs for those in need. Without any funding from the government, this project was supported by the co-op members and grew to support over 1,500 families. Environmentalism supported Education in skills building and academics.
As documented by the National Women’s History Museum, Hamer began “buying up land that Blacks could own and farm collectively. With the assistance of donors (including famed singer Harry Belafonte), she purchased 640 acres and launched a coop store, boutique, and sewing enterprise. She single-handedly ensured that 200 units of low-income housing were built—many still exist in Ruleville today.” Her dedication to social justice and the furthering of racial equality was an integral piece in the advancement of both civil rights and environmental justice.
A name familiar to many across the world is John James Audubon a person of mixed white and Black descent. who was born April 26, 1785, in Les Cayes, Haiti, the illegitimate son of French sea captain Jean Audubon and his slave, Jeanne Rabine. Rabine who is described in historical documents as a "Creole slave", a "black woman from the Congo", and Jean Audubon's servant, chambermaid, and mistress. Despite his lineage It has been well documented that Audubon held white supremacist views and enslaved at least nine people during his lifetime. James Audubon was a self-taught ornithologist (Bird enthusiast) and artist. The Birds of America, Audubon's collection of lifelike drawings, was a feat of artistry, technical skill and determination. Yet despite his genius the system he was raised in scarred him forcing him to deny half hiss lineage in order to gain acceptance.
Ironically it was the history of his racial lineage becoming common knowledge and NOT his racism that has prompted many to write him out of the history books! Seattle Audubon is changing its name to Birds Connect Seattle to move away from the name they now say has a a racist legacy. The Seattle chapter said Tuesday the name change is one step toward creating a more inclusive and anti-racist organization, The Seattle Times reported. Yet Boston's Faneuil Hall a landmark named after Peter Faneuil who funded all his works through torturous slavery in the Caribbean is still considered a national hero. Plain and simply put like Black Lives, history matters. Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods, with the end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Now we are entering a warming period and its effects on mankind have yet to be considered in depth!
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