Title: MLK’s Impact on the Environmental Justice Movement
Author:
AJ Cuevas and Simone
Charles
Section/SPIG: Environment
Issue Date:
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King is considered by many to be the
grandfather of the environmental justice movement in the United States
of America. He was dedicated to equality and nonviolence which shaped
the social justice backdrop of US during the height of the civil rights
movement. In 1968, Dr. King went on a mission to Memphis to help
striking garbage workers to obtain environmental and economic justice.
These workers were fighting for better pay and better working
conditions. This work of Dr. King was one of the sparks for the
contemporary environmental justice movement which is in many ways a
public health justice movement for underserved and socially and
economically disadvantaged communities and populations. Dr. King’s work
in the civil rights movement, his fight for social and economic
justice, and demands for equal rights for everyone provided a strong
foundation and blueprint for positive social change for the
environmental justice movement of the 21st Century.
The
monument will be dedicated to Dr. King in Washington, DC. In honor of
the monument dedication, the American Public Health Association’s
Environment Section plans to host a commemorative online conversation
through social media on the impact of MLK on the contemporary
environmental justice movement and what lessons can we use from his
leadership to advance an environmental justice agenda for public health,
equal opportunity, and community empowerment in the 21st Century. The
conversation will be guided around the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King as a pioneer for social justice, civil rights, and peace.
Join the EJ Committee
in the discussion and reflect on the following questions:
-
Dr. King, civil rights
and environmental justice – how do they intersect?
-
Great disparities in
the location and concentration of environmental hazards, noxious land
uses, and pollution sources are evident across rural and Metropolitan
areas in the US including in DC area communities. How might the King
monument help raise awareness about environmental justice? Build
empowerment to address environmental justice issues?
-
What do you think Dr.
King would say about health disparities in the Nation today? What we
should do about these disparities?
-
What do you think Dr.
King would say we should do the address climate change at grassroots,
national, and global levels?
-
What do you think Dr. King would say about the lack of good
housing stock in many urban communities, poor mass transit and
transportation infrastructure, inequities in zoning and planning, and
lack of safe potable water supplies for many underserved and poor
residents? What would he say we should do about it?
-
What lessons can we
learn from the civil rights movement? What best practices should be
adopted to address green justice issues including environmental justice,
climate justice, energy justice, and food justice in the US and
globally?
-
What do you think Dr. King would say about how we should
build healthier, greener, and more economically sustainable communities?
-
What solutions do you
plan to implement to address environmental injustice and environmental
health disparities in your community that would make King proud?
-
How do you plan
contribute to the environmental justice movement or any other social
movement? How do you plan to be a leader for change?
Login information:
Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/groups/116693708428263/)
Twitter
(http://twitter.com/#!/EJusticeAPHA
).
You can also
search for the EJ Pages on both media sites using the following email
address:
aphaejcommittee@gmail.com
.
If you have
any questions or have any trouble logging into the conversation, please
email us (AJ Cuevas or Simone Charles) at
aphaejcommittee@gmail.com
. Please use the subject heading “
MLK & EJ Conversation
”.