The NAACP has endorsed the Statement on the Nation’s Ethical Obligation to Address Climate Change. In signing this statement, we recognize that climate change is a real, dangerous, and rapidly worsening problem with deep moral implications. We must also acknowledge and act on our long-standing moral obligation to protect current and future generations from suffering and death, to honor principles of justice and equity, and to protect the great Earth systems on which the wellbeing of all life, including ours, depends.
To read the full statement and endorse, please click here.
Below, please see some of the statements made by NAACP faith leaders:
Reverend Theresa Dear, NAACP National Board Member and Dupage County Branch President
In this video Reverend Dear, NAACP National Board Member and Dupage Illinois County Branch President, provides testimony for the EPA Mercury and Air Toxics Rule for Power Plants Hearings which took place in May 2011 in Chicago, IL. In this video she talks about the effects of lead on children, child bearing women, and fetuses in utero. She calls on us to speak for them in telling the EPA that lead level compliance needs to be brought down from 5% to 0%.
Pastor David Bullock, Branch President, Highland Park NAACP
In this video PastorDavid Bullock, is at the Michigan Town Hall Meeting regarding pollution from coal fired power plants, which took place in Detroit Michigan in July of 2011. Pastor Bullock talks about how environmental toxins polluting our air, water and land are adversely affecting the health of communities. Pastor Bullock speaks of the need to stand together in solidarity in calling on the EPA to enact stronger standards to protect communities from air toxins.
Reverend Wendell Anthony, Detroit Branch President, NAACP
In this video, Reverend Wendell Anthony, Detroit Branch President is at the Michigan Town Hall Meeting on coal fired power plants which was held in Detroit, MI in July 2011. Reverend Anthony speaks of how the coal fired power plants have created severe health problems, particularly in communities of color around our nation. Reverend Anthony calls on members of Congress to help maintain healthy communities.
As daylight faded on a long and productive day, the team considered whether we should just make a beeline back to Jackson. However, there was one more stop we had to make in response to a call from Cliff Tanner in Silver City who said that there was a woman who had yet to evacuate from her flooded neighborhood. We arrived at the house and found that the street adjacent to the house was completely flooded to the extent that one would need a boat to go down the street and all other homes had long since evacuated.
The street that became a river
We were still able to pull in front of the house and we met with Ms. Robertson. She shared that she is legally blind and thus can’t drive at night. She also shared that the reverse feature on her truck does not work. She went on to say that she was planning to wait it out for another night and then head to her brother’s in the morning. She feared leaving her TVs and her deep freezer, which was filled with meat. Ms. Robertson had received a visit from FEMA that morning and, though they acknowledged that the entire community with the exception of Ms. Robertson was waterlogged and had vacated the area, they said they couldn’t do anything for her until the water was actually in the house.
Slow but steady, water approaches Mrs. Robertson's back door
We saw that action was needed. So 14 hours into our journey, in the dark of night, sometimes with only the flashlight from my camera as a guide, the team went to work packing up Ms. Robertson’s belongings so that she could make the hour plus drive to her brother’s house in Lexington. The TV and deep freeze were loaded into the trailer hitched to the back of Ms. Robertson’s truck.
Frank, Jesse, and Cliff moving the deep freezer
Frank carries one of the televisions out into the car
There were many other items we could not load in or attach to the truck. However, the intrepid team found creative means of saving the balance of the items in the home. All were determined that the distraught Ms. Robertson would leave her home that night with relative peace of mind that all measures were taken to secure her belongings, as well as her safety.
Tough problems--creative solutions--suspending the couch on a ladder to evade the flood waters
Another creative maneuver--suspending the other couch on the kitchen counter
More creative maneuvering to save possessions
As we left, Ms. Robertson gave profuse thanks for the fortuitous arrival of the team.The next day, we heard from branch president, Cliff Tanner, who had alerted us to Mrs. Robertson’s situation in the first place, that he drove by her street and saw her bench floating in the lake that had become her front yard. Clearly we had arrived just in time.
Bench that was later found floating down the street
Underserved, But Rallying in Western Alabama (Reform, Carrollton, and Aliceville)
As one drives through Reform, at first you don’t really have a sense that anything has happened unless you know to identify the trucks carrying huge logs as being ones who are clearing up the wreckage of fallen trees due to the tornado. Then, as you pass the elementary school and go up into one of the neighborhoods you see where the tornado dropped down with almost laser focus and did its damage on a swath of houses while leaving all else untouched.
Damage in Reform
More Damage in Reform
In talking with the folks in Reform they said that though some assistance was set up for a couple of days at the National Guard building, soon after anyone needing help would have to travel to Carrollton.
In Carrollton I stopped for gas. After emptying my purse to fill my tank, I was about to go into the station and ask about where the disaster services were being provided when I looked across the street and saw the Pickens Baptist Association Disaster Relief Center. I went in and found a lovely operation with a set of volunteers providing food, clothing, and a variety of household goods.
Pickens Baptist Association--A Mission to Provide Relief
Pickens Volunteers Sorting Donations
Two conversations revealed additional dimensions of this disaster and the quest for provision of appropriate, accessible assistance for survivors. I spoke to the daughter of the head of missions of the Pickens Baptist Association. The women described a serious challenge with how dispersed families are and how information and resources aren’t reaching people in distant areas. She also talked about the challenge of people who had homes that had been passed down from generation to generation, but where there is no longer homeowners insurance. She spoke of concern around how families will fill the gap between the total need and the assistance FEMA will provide.
There were two women there collecting goods for six families in Aliceville, which was representative of the very comment made by the volunteer. With a limited number of operational vehicles available and long distances to travel to get assistance, a few people are charged with working the facilitate fulfillment of the needs of the many. Fortunately, this woman is graciously shouldering the weight.
Resilience and Prudence in Geiger
My day wrapped up with a stop in Geiger, AL, a small town of just over 200 people on the border with Mississippi. As I rolled into town, one of the first places I encountered was a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center. I dropped in and found out that the center was actually in City Hall.
Welcome to Geiger AL!
As I was greeted by reception she introduced me to the mayor. The mayor spent a generous amount of time with me describing the situation in Geiger. Being a part time truck driver, the mayor was out on a job when the tornado struck. He described his journey into town which, from the highway usually would have taken a half hour, but took 2 hours, due to the clearing of road debris that was necessary for him to arrive into his town. He said as he drove into town and saw the destruction all he could do is stop and hang his head. He arrived home and found his roof damaged and his shed on top of his truck. In total 56 homes were damaged. He said his town members were walking about in a state of sheer shock, not knowing what to do.
Geiger Damage
Geiger on the Road to Recovery
Mayor Cunningham lauded the efforts of both Red Cross and FEMA. He said that Red Cross came and visited every house in the community conducting assessments. Similarly he thought that FEMA was very responsive and that they had been prompt in paying claims within the promised 8-10 days. Otherwise he was concerned that some well-meaning folks were giving them more of what they don’t need and not enough of what they do need. For example he said they don’t need clothes or food, but they do need building materials, heavy equipment, and funding to finance the rebuilding process, particularly for single mothers and elderly people on a fixed income for whom FEMA funding won’t be enough.
FEMA Providing Much Needed Assistance at the Geiger City Hall
Perils of Post-Disaster Diets
At the end of the day on Tuesday I found myself fairly famished and commented on it to one of the Red Cross workers. She pointed out that there was fried chicken and pizza earlier and chided me for not having any. My reply was that I was holding out for something a bit more nutritious and stuck with the one banana I managed to scrounge from somewhere. She looked at me quizzically and said, “That’s disaster relief.” At first I felt guilty…actually I felt guilty for some time after that I was being a prima donna while folks are really suffering. But then I heard folks at two different relief centers commenting on how they couldn’t get food they could eat because they were diabetic . A friend and staunch social justice advocate friend of mine in Jamaica was found dead on Tuesday of uncontrolled diabetes. This was a wake-up call. Whether it’s me as a disaster relief worker or the survivors of the disaster, we should have access to foods that aren’t going to victimize health compromised survivors again, on top of the trauma of the disaster. This is a particularly critical point for African Americans with our high rates of diabetes. Fortunately, at one of the disaster recovery centers I noted that Red Cross had “diabetic meals”. We need to work on making sure that life sustaining meals are available and provided in a way that is safe and appropriate for those in need.
A group of us went to visit Rosedale where Mr. Carter stewarded us through visiting the areas and assessing the situation. We saw a ravaged area and met up with a group of young boys bouncing a basketball down the street. One of the boys had survived the storm in his home with his family. They huddled together in the bathtub, remembering some words of guidance from some past advisories on storm response. After the storm passed the young man with whom we were talking said he raised his head and found himself on the sidewalk outside and there was nothing left standing of his home. Fortunately, the rest of his family survived as well. He showed us his mom’s car which had been found several hundred yards away from the home.
Family car, found blocks away from the home
Communities Coming Together in Tuscaloosa, AL
The branch in Tuscaloosa was hard at work at one of the disaster recovery centers. They were doing the critical task of organizing donated clothing for distribution to families in need.
Sorting Socks in Tuscaloosa
Their frustration was evident as they stated, “We’ve seen Bill Cosby, Condoleeza Rice, Charles Barkley, and others. That’s fine that they have come to visit but our question is what are you here to do? Are you going to help us sort these shoes? Are you bringing some money? We need help!!”
When I arrived in Huntsville, Alabama yesterday I was met by Alice, Veronica, and Reverend Shanklin (former NAACP Alabama State Conference President) the intrepid members of the Huntsville Branch of NAACP who have been doing relief around this disaster since it struck including delivering goods, helping people access services, connecting lost family members, etc.
We stopped for breakfast and met up with Second Vice President of the Alabama State Conference, Steve Branch. As we sat munching, the store manager who overheard us making our plans to for the day came over and shared that he and his co-worker lost a high school friend in “The Storm” and that the same friend had lost a home. He then introduced us to Sherry who shared that her house had been leveled. Her 13 year old son, who was home alone, somehow survived with only a few cuts and bruises. She said that when he came out of the house and saw nothing but wreckage as far as he could see, he thought he was “the only one left” which was a chilling thought. He just took off running and ran and ran until he finally came across some people.
We left the restaurant and headed for Harvest, which is a community near Huntsville. There we found a center, run by the Harvest Youth Group, that had been set up to process volunteers and provide assistance. In Harvest there were previously 80 homes, but after the ravaging of the community by the tornado of April 27th 2011, there were only 9 homes still standing.
Wreckage in Harvest
Belongings Saved From One Home
We went to a press conference/resource fair where booths were set up to do grief counseling, mental health assistance, FEMA was set up to provide guidance on claims filing, insurance companies were providing information, etc. On the stage political representatives were sharing availability of resources and representatives of the Red Cross and FEMA were doing the same. Inside a large gym was set up where they had trays and trays of all kinds of food that was being given for free to all. One thing that struck me was the disparity of those on the stage giving out information and those holding the ladles dishing out food, VERSUS those on the ground at the microphone seeking assistance as well as those holding the plates receiving food. As you’ll see below, every last person on stage holding the power and the information were white and most of the questioners were African American and all of the folks giving out food were white while those receiving the food were significantly more African American than not.
People in the Drivers Seat of the Response and Relief Efforts
People "waiting for a ride on the bus" seeking assistance at the press conference
Food Line--Racial Disparity in the Seeker and Providers of Assistance
Mr. Branch and I went our own way from Harvest and headed for Tanner where we joined up with Wilbert Woodruff, the President of the NAACP Limestone County Branch, at a store and encountered a woman, Ms. Pryor who told us of her story of being in her home when the tornado struck. We went out to take a look at her property. Ms. Pryor and her son had managed to find relatively secure shelter in a hallway while much of her home was demolished around her. She is now in a struggle with her insurance company who refuses to write off her home in spite of the statements by several contractors that her home is a total loss. Oddly, the same company wrote off the home next door which had much less in the way of visible damage, as compared to her home where have of it was literally a pile of rubble.
Ms. Pryor's Home
Ms. Pryor's Home II
Ms. Pryor's Neighbor
Ms. Pryor, her son, and Mr. Woodruff
Otherwise, Mr. Woodruff had been hard at work with communities in Tanner that had been severely impacted by the tornadoes. He took me on a drive through the communities.
The site of one of the tragic fatalitiesRemains of the Kitchen
Throughout the day I heard stories of triumph and stories of tragedy, stories of miracles and many stories of resilience. Steve Branch spoke of how he was on his way to take his nephew to pay rent on the trailer. They reached the area where the trailer was and did a double take as they saw a scattered pile of debris where his nephew’s home used to be. One person told the story of a four year hold boy who had been put in a deep freezer “by a man with wings”. The home he was in came down around him but he survived, unable to free himself because of the debris on top of the deep freezer, but able to open to lid enough to get enough oxygen to survive until he was later discovered.
On a note of hope, faith, and altruism, that I know will take the communities through this tragedy and beyond, I end with an image that personifies out communities have pulled together in the aftermath. More tomorrow…..
"I Am My Brother's (and Sister's) Keeper"--Neighborly Grace at Its Best
Both in my conversations with Gulf communities, and in my extensive reading on the impacts of this disaster I learned that physical and mental health needs have escalated with documented reports of high levels of volatile organic compounds in the bloodstream of Gulf Coast residents, physical effects from exposure to toxins, increases in depression, as well as alcoholism and substance abuse, etc. “The key concern expressed by the community in response to the report is the overwhelming need for access to health care. Over and over, people exposed to crude and dispersants from the drilling disaster told stories of serious health issues–from high levels of ethyl-benzene in their blood, to respiratory ailments and internal bleeding—and expressed an urgent need for access to doctors who have experience treating chemical exposure,” states LaTosha Brown, Director, Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health which provides grants and support to over 250 community organizations on the Gulf Coast.
In a recent commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), public health researchers warn that chemicals in the oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon rig and the dispersants used to clean it up pose short and long term threats to human health, especially if they are inhaled or contact the skin. Also, certain harmful chemicals could accumulate in Gulf of Mexico fish and shellfish, posing a seafood contamination hazard for years to come. In Louisiana in the early months of the spill, according to the authors, more than 300 people, most of whom were cleanup workers, sought medical care for symptoms like headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, cough, respiratory stress and chest pain. These symptoms are often seen in people exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas or hydrocarbons, both products of the spilled oil, “but it is difficult to distinguish toxic symptoms from common illnesses”.
Mary Craft of Coden Alabama speaks both about health effects as well as community impact.
Denise Rednour, of Gulf Port Mississippi also shared about health and community effects.
Paul Nelson is a lifelong fisherman and community organizer in Coden AL. He has heard many stories of health impacts and shares several examples of health challenges faced by those in his community.
Pervasive frustration, anger, and resentment resulting from the above challenges and the lacking and/or flawed systems to support recovery, have resulted in conflicts between family members and within communities. This is manifested by increased domestic violence rates reported by police departments and service providers as well as a spike in incidents of road rage reported by highway authorities.
In Plaquemines Parish, in the first quarter 2010, there were 32 reported cases of domestic violence while in the second quarter of 2010, since the oil spill began, the number of reported cases of domestic violence more than doubled to 68. In her article “Collateral Disaster: Domestic Violence Up After Oil Spill,” Jenny Inglee reports that Mayor Stan Wright of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, told the BBC that domestic violence has risen by 320 percent since the Gulf oil spill began. She wrote, “There has been a 110 percent increase in daily calls and complaints to the local police department.”[1]
Yet communities are coming together with leadership from groups like the Louisiana Bayoukeepers Association, Gulf Coast Fund, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Advocates for Environmental and Human Rights, Louisiana Justice Institute, Louisiana Oystermen’s Association, Mobile Baykeepers, Steps Coalition, Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing, the NAACP and many, many more, to advance demands for justice in the wake of this disaster.
Derrick Evans of Turkey Creek Initiatives and Gulf Coast Fund Advisor shares about impacts on communities.
Sharon Gauthe and Patty Whitney of the Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing speak of challenges for communities and the organizations struggling to serve.
Danny Patterson of the South Alabama Community Foundation describes how the communities are being impacted by this disaster including describing instances of domestic violence, road rage, and even an instance where a person was murdered because in a robbery for his claim check. He also describes challenges with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.
Toxic Exposure and the Importance of Civic Engagement in Communities of Color
In response to the disturbing information crossing my desk about the disproportionate dumping of oiled waste from the BP Oil Drilling Disaster in communities of color, I called our friend at the EPA and asked that he set up some visits for us to tour these landfills, as well as the waste processing centers, a.k.a. “staging areas” so that we can get a sense of what’s going on, why, and how it’s impacting communities of color.
What we discovered in our visits is the systemic and structural set up that makes it almost inevitable that this waste would find its way into communities of color, as so much other waste does. Of course, this is not news to the environmental justice mavens who have been fighting these battles for decades.
In fact BP didn’t just wake up and say, “we’re going to dump this waste in communities of color”, though they certainly did have choices as to where to dump. However, what governed those choices is where we begin to see the age old dynamics that result in disproportionate exposures to a variety of toxins in communities of color.
BP chose its sites based on existing permitted sites for the type of waste they were disposing. They also chose the sites based on minimizing the transport distance for the waste. A third determining factor was which facility was able to offer the lowest cost for waste disposal. The result of their selection process was that out of the nine sites selected to process the waste, six were in communities that were predominantly people of color.
From ColorLines...
Why? Because permitted landfills are already predominantly in communities of color and the owners of the landfills in those areas are able to benefit from depressed land values and can therefore outbid competitors when vying for the contracts to process waste. Conversely in the one community that was not disproportionately populated by people of color, Harrison County, in Mississippi, citizen’s action resulted in the waste not going there.
The oil drilling disaster is just one example of scores of situations that were touched on last year in our “Poisoned Communities” feature story, where multiple scenarios were shared illustrating the health impacts of exposures to landfills, industrial facilities like coal plants, etc. According to studies led by Dr. Robert Bullard, “Godfather of the Environmental Justice Movement”:
Seventy-one percent of African Americans live in counties in violation of federal air pollution standards, as compared to fifty-eight percent of the white population. Seventy-eight percent of African Americans live within thirty miles of a coal-fired power plant, as compared to fifty-six percent of non-Hispanic whites. Asthma, which has a strong correlation to many of the same airborne pollutants that drive climate change, affects African Americans at a 36 percent higher rate of incidence than whites. African Americans are hospitalized for asthma at three times the rate of whites and die of asthma at twice the rate of whites.
Sheila and her family in Dickson, TN who drank water contaminated by landfill seepage for years and are now afflicted with various forms of cancer, the New Albany IN families of the deceased coal plant worker and the family matriarch who lived two miles from the same plant, both of whom died of lung cancer never smoked a day in their lives, are just two of the many other examples of the combination of toxic exposure and lack of civic engagement needed to protect these communities.
On the victory side, the families in Chicago who surround the toxin emitting coal fired power plants and also experience a disproportionate level of respiratory diseases according to the Harvard School of Public Health studies, led by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization are fighting back. They have organized together and are now in the process of passing an ordinance regulating the toxic emissions from the two most toxic coal plants in the nation. That’s the power of civic engagement!
What can we do to ensure that our interests are being served in zoning, permitting, and other decision making that is central to our health, economic security, and general wellbeing? We can make sure we are in hose decision making spaces, whether it’s the zoning boards, the city councils, the school boards, the disaster planning committees, etc. We need to make sure we are at every table representing the needs, the interests, and the rights of our communities. We also need to make sure we hold folks in those positions, folks we need to be responsible for putting in the places that will impact our lives, accountable for how they act and in whose interests. Thirdly we need to get involved even when we are not directly in those positions, such as what LVEJO helped the residents in Chicago do in developing and advancing that ordinance.
However, foremost, and most immediately, we need to vote. That’s something that we can all do, that we have a right to do and that we must do! Through the candidate selection process, which should be based on candidate records and actions on the issues that serve the interests of the communities, we can ensure that those in place have a history of making choices that are in the interest of our communities. By voting and demonstrating that communities of color are a formidable bloc that can be responsible for the rise and fall of elected officials, we can ensure that those in elected office are accountable to the needs of communities of color.
The NAACP Mobile Branch Leadership (Robert Walker, Branch President, as well as Tommy Green and Rick Henderson) treated me to a thorough tour and enlightening analysis/commentary on the BP Oil Disaster and the impact so far, as well as what it will potentially mean for coastal Alabama. They took me to Dauphin Island, a popular tourist destination, as well as Bayou La Batre which is home to marshlands where lots of fishing occurs.
At Dauphin Island we drove to one end where the beach area was closed and military personnel were busily setting out boom and erecting berm (a term I had never heard before and now hear daily!) We asked a wildlife and fisheries person who was there seemingly guarding a gate to ensure there were no casual visitors. When asked about the potential for oil coming ashore, she stridently stated that the oil was “far away, at least 25 miles out”. This struck me as grimly humorous as we watched the coast guard folks behind her frantically laying out protective infrastructure. Of course, two days later, tar balls appeared on Dauphin Island. Our team talked about the spin conspiracy which is determined to put things in its most positive light, no matter what the reality is of what’s occurring.
We talked a bit about the politics of oil and of this disaster. Rick, with a healthy sense of irony, stated the contradictions in some positions on the issue of the clash between de-regulation and maintaining safety standards, “They want small government when they don’t need anything. When you don’t want regulation and you want free enterprise and you want capitalism to run rampant, ie “drill baby drill”, this is what happens!” The team also spoke about what they considered to be unrealistic expectations of President Obama. Again with his gift for painting a picture to characterize a situation, Mr. Henderson stated, “They want Obama to put on a swimsuit and go down there and cut it off himself.”
Robert Walker, lifelong resident of Mobile, Alabama speculated on how the oil spill will affect the beaches of Mobile Bay and the people who make their living from industries dependent on those beaches.
In Bayou Le Batre, Alabama, Rick shows the waterways and the booms that have been laid in the attempt to mitigate. He talks about the marshlands of the area and how the oil will impact sea life as well as the livelihoods of persons in the region.
Burnell Tolbert, Branch President for Lafourche Parish, Louisiana shared the changes he’s observed in the Parish since the BP oil disaster. He also introduced me to Darien Francis, one of the many people from whom Mr. Tolbert has receive requests for assistance in coping with this catastrophe.
Like so many, Mr. Francis, who operates a small take out restaurant at the back of a gas station convenience store, is faced with the specter of losing his business. Mr. Francis’ restaurant features seasoned shrimp, crabs, and crawfish. Of late, Mr. Francis’s normal supplier of seafood has raised his prices to such an extent, Mr. Francis’ customers can no longer afford to purchase the product. Just to keep his business going, Mr. Francis has had to resort to expanding his repertoire to selling turkey neck and pig’s feet.
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