Black folks don’t care about the environment
Ever heard that sort of thing? I have.
“Black folks are too concerned about survival to care about clean air and water.” “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and Black folks are just trying to avoid being eaten.”
Oh yeah? I don’t buy that for a moment. That sort of thing is just like those who say that union members can’t be expected to oppose any project that might bring in a job or two. Not true. We all have families. We all want a clean environment.
Check out Wisdom2see at Black Talk Radio. The linked interview is titled “Saving Humanities Global Energy Crisis with Solar Energy”
Now that is what I’m talking about. The program will air October 16th from 2 to 3 PM, and the call in number is 646-716-7328.
well, i am a black man (i don’t speak for all black people), and i have heard this, but let me put it in its proper context. One, many poor, black people (not all black people) are concerned with their survival, with poverty, with racism, with white supremacy, with police brutality, with living their live. So environmentalism doesn’t appear very high on the list of priorities. Also, the environmentalist movement has been, at least from a superficial glance, a middle and upper class white movement. So many blacks don’t see a place for them in the environmentalist movement.
Its important to understand the context. That being said, many black people do care about the environment. It helps when you can navigate through this gauntlet of white supremacy and oppression. It helps when you have actually heard about the movement. Also with the introduction of people like Rosa and Cynthia into the green party, there will be more trust that if a green party is in power, then racial and economic equality will be just as prioritized as the environment.
So yeah, some people say that, and there’s some thought behind it, but like most generalizations, not everyone believes that, nor should we make assumptions about people who do believe it.
I’d like to add that most of the white people I know don’t care about the environment.
And the ones that do, well, they don’t do much about it.
matia, take your hate speech somewhere else.
I deleted both comments and blocked that IP. That was really nasty. My apologies.