Environmental Racism: Connecting the dots.

Merely technical solutions run the risk of addressing symptoms and not the more serious underlying problems. There is a need to respect the rights of peoples and cultures, and to appreciate that the development of a social group presupposes an historical process which takes place within a cultural context and demands the constant and active involvement of local people from within their proper culture. Nor can the notion of the quality of life be imposed from without, for quality of life must be understood within the world of symbols and customs proper to each human group.  Laudato Si',  Pope Francis, 2015, Chapter 4, #144.

Johnson stands outside the office of People for Community Recovery, the organization she founded in 1979. (Courtesy of People for Community Recovery)

​Are there connections between systemic racism and environmental threats and degradation?
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In Lessons for Catholics from the life of Hazel Johnson, Mother of environmental justice," National Catholic Reporter's EarthBeat marked the end of Black History Month with a profile of Hazel Johnson, a Black woman who left an indelible mark on national environmental policy while remaining deeply rooted in Altgeld Gardens, the southeast Chicago neighborhood where she spent her life fighting polluters.

Johnson, who died in January 2011, is considered the mother of the U.S. environmental justice movement. She is known for her relentless battle against the evil that surrounded her neighborhood in the form of toxic dumps, lead paint and other pollution that sickened her neighbors and shortened their lives.

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