Everyday Black folks missing from the eco-dialogue
By Charles Hallman
Staff Writer
Tuskegee University hosted the first-ever Black Environmental Thought (BET) conference in 2007. The University of Minnesotaâs Hubert H. Humphrey Center hosted last weekend the second such event on September 21-23.

The U-Mâs African American and African Studies (AAAS) department, the Institute for Advanced Study and St. Paul-based AfroEco were key organizers of BET II, which was billed for Black scholars, activists, farmers and other environmentalists âto engage in translocal and transnational dialogues about environmental justice.â
âIt took us five years to do this again,â proclaimed U-M Professor Rose Brewer in her welcoming remarks.
AAAS Chair Keith Mayes added that too often âBlack folk and people of color are left out of the [environmental] discussion.â
Environmental issues are âfundamental Black issues,â noted AfroEcoâs Sam Grant. âOne is healthy air â the inner-city environment is more toxic for breathing more stuff,â he explains. âAsthma in our community is directly related to environmental injustice and economic apartheidâŠbut we donât connect the dots.
âClimate change is a fundamental Black issue,â he continued. âWe [as Blacks] play one of the least roles in creating the climate [concerns] but we are facing some of the most serious impacts. We want to make that connection in the Black community. There are challengesâŠaccess to water [and] access to soilâ that Blacks and other people of color often are confronted with, adds Grant.
However, most of the 150-plus persons who attended last weekâs conference in attendance were academic types who were âpreaching to the choirâ on most topics. When asked why more regular Black folk werenât present, Grant admitted, âWe made a lot of scholarships available, and even let folk come in for free so long as they worked out a deal with us. None of that added up to getting a whole lot of the common folk here.â

âHow do you make that connection [of Black environmental issues] for folks who arenât already in the room?â asked Summit-University Planning Council Executive Director Irna Landrum, a session presider on local Black urban growers. âIf we look at urban agriculture as more than just food, for some people it will make sense if you start thinking you can make money from it. For other people, it is a way to be more physically active, and for some people it will make sense because they feel isolated and they want to be out doing something with other people.â
Because environmentalism is usually associated with Whites, âThere already is this disconnect with environmentalism [by Blacks],â continued Landrum. However, she adds that Blacks always have been environmentalists but donât normally see themselves as such.
âIâm from the South â from Louisiana â and weâve always been recycling. My dad used to save cans⊠He was a canner, and we used those canning jars for a million other things after that. After we used margarine tubs when I was a little girl, they became a container for my barrettes and ribbons. We were recycling and reusing, and rethinking about how to use space and items for a very long time,â she said.
âI believe it is our job as organizers,â said Landrum, âto find these stories that will connect people to the work we are doing. We canât assume that it makes sense because it makes sense to us.â
EUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison Environmental Justice Assistant Professor Monica White pointed out that Black urban female community gardeners in Detroit that she worked with in 2009-10 used their gardens as âsafe spaces,â âa place to teach political engagementâ and a form of resistance against urban decay.

Grant said that if a new urban environment policy is needed for the Black community, it should be community-based and devised. âThe most powerful agent of public policy is the people,â he pointed out. âItâs our responsibility for our own health⊠We canât point the finger at anybody because they [elected officials] are not doing it for us.â
âWe canât really depend on nonprofits to do it for us [either],â added Tim Page, a Black urban grower in St. Paul. He appeared with Michael Chaney and several other local urban growers on a panel that Grant and Landrum co-presided on.
Chaney said his goal is more about creating âengaged communitiesâ rather than growing food and said he foresee a ânational dialogueâ in the next 10-15 years on building an urban agricultural movement in this country.
His AfroEco organization has at least 45 urban growers in the Twin Cities, admitted Grant. âItâs a small movement right now but itâs getting stronger and deeper. By next year, we expect to have a minimum of 200 Black urban growers,â he predicted.
âWe didnât have a large audience but everyone who came [said they] will carry something with them, and got some healing and some clarificationâ to continue working for change, said Grant after the conferenceâs conclusion. He and LaDonna Redmond of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy participated in the closing panel session on âEnvisioning Futures.â
Redmond said that she suggested that urban agriculture can help âfacilitate community healing,â and that Blacks really use their culture and history for healing and reclaiming purposes. She also disputed the oft-mentioned notion that Black people canât come together to work on solutions.
âHere was about 200 people or so come together [at the BET] to figure out how can we better work together,â she said. âIt is important to know that Black people are working together to help heal our community.â
âWe are all connected; we are not alone. We are all trying to do this,â concluded Grant.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com
Reach the MSR staff at msrnewsonline@spokesman-recorder.com.