Reckoning with Climate and Environmental Injustice on Juneteenth
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Tomorrow is Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day and Emancipation Day. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas – home of the most remote enslaved people in the United States – to spread the word that the Civil War had ended and enslaved Black people were free. This happened two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
It is a reminder to all of us that none of us are free until all of us are free.
Juneteenth has long been a day of celebration, education, and community for Black people in America – and we’re encouraged to see it get the recognition it deserves as a new federal holiday.
We also recognize that the struggle is not over – and that the road to a more just, equitable, and sustainable future is long and uneven.
As an organization fighting for climate and environmental justice, we have a responsibility every day to speak out against systemic racism and work with our partners to help dismantle systems of White supremacy that perpetuate violence and harm against BIPOC communities.
No parent should have to ask about chemicals in the water their kids drink. No one should have to wonder what the air they breathe is doing to their lungs. Or worry that yet another hurricane will unleash life-threatening floods and take away everything they own. There can be no climate and environmental justice without racial justice.
To learn more about the fight for climate and environmental justice, we invite you to visit our topic page. It’s important to recognize that we’re not the field experts here and our work draws heavily on grassroots partners and organizations who’ve been fighting this fight for many year