“They’re not hearing people speak to them on the issue in a manner that resonates.”
“With Black people clearly on the front lines of climate crisis and environmental disaster (as victims and forced resistance fighters), it would seem natural for Black voters in the 2020 election to view the environment as a top issue. Indeed, Black voters could in many ways be the decisive eco-voters of the most high stakes election in American history — particularly as we consider the current Trump administration’s zealous hostility to and aggressive dismantling of environmental protections.
This election will decide the fate of the planet and human civilization because the outcome will decide the direction of policy to fix the damage done to our collective home. Environmental issues, in fact, seem to permeate as key context throughout every major racial injustice highlighted this past summer: It was the diabolical gentrification plans of real estate companies that ended up murdering Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, as police were being used to methodically push out low-income Black residents for a redevelopment scheme. And there are redlining legacies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, that eventually led to the death of George Floyd and the paralyzing of Jacob Blake. Behind every headlining viral act of open racism is an intersection of environmental injustice.”
