Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 April 1995 — Page 2

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

SATURDAY, APRIL 22,1998

Environmental racism dulls Earth Day celebration

EMTORUUS

The Lugar campaign This week Senator Richard G. Lugar launched his bid for the office of president of the UnitedStates. It is fair to say that no one agrees with their elected representatives all of the time and we certainly have not always seen eye to eye with our senior senator. But it is also fair to say that Senator Lugar has conducted his duties with integrity and with great dedication. Few public servants work as hard or as smart as does our senior senator. Our senator has also managed to rise above the name calling and lack of civility which has plagued modern politics and which has turned political campaigns into mindless muckraking media assaults. In short we believe Senator Richard Lugar’s candidacy will focus on issues as he sees them as opposed to the drivel that we’ve come to expect from modern campaigns. Of course the Lugar candidacy is seen as being far behind the obvious Republican front runner, Senator Robert Dole, as far as early predictions go. But the Lugar campaign is already far ahead in the race to return decency to politics. We wish Senator Lugar well in his uphill battle because we sincerely believe that other politicians could learn a lot from him. If the numerous Republican candidates care to take the high ground along with the Senior Senator from Indiana we will see an honest, decent and issue driven primary campaign for a change. Did this Easter bring a recipe for modern Christianity? There is tremendous public pressure calling us to rely on force and vengeance as the only way to purge ourselves of crime and criminals. Many Americans seem to be transferring this way of thinking to others besides criminals as we seek to rationalize our growing urge to harm others and to ignore the pain of others. The reemergence of the death penalty seems to make people feel better. The move to remove all restrictions on gun ownership is seen as proper response to crime by many Americans. It seems strange that in a nation which professes to be primarily Christian, so much of Christian dogma can be so easily ignored. As followers of someone called the Prince of Peace, we’ve managed to write new commandments and principles for ourselves so we can accommodate uncharitable acts. The new, widely-held Christian ideals emanating from somewhere to the right-of-center seem to go something like this. “Thou shall not kill” unless you get angry at some scumball or unless you can get the State to kill for you so that revenge is yours in the electric chair. Never “turn the other cheek” unless you’re looking for your gun. Vengeance is not the Lord’s because the Lord must not be acting soon enough for us. “Blessed are the children” - who can get a decent education and the rest of them can be damned. Judge a lot and judge harshly because the Lord must not be capable doing a good enough job of judgement and besides others are not as worthy as I am. “Blessed are the poor” as long as they don’t cost me anything or get in my way. “Blessed are the merciful” as long as they don’t try to get elected and as long as they know when to get even. Our response to Jesus Christ today would probably be to get him a public defender. The result would only be different in that we would now electrocute him for crimes of compassion instead of crucifying him. Or if we get real progressive and he shows up next year, we might be able to give him a lethal injection if we can live without the joyful barbarism of the electric chair. Oh what friends Jesus has.

It was years ago that we began to celebrate Earth Day and to commit ourselves to stop the destruction of the planet. In the meantime, thousands of trees have been planted, recycling has become the norm, water and the air have been cleaned up and polluters have been put on notice. But the task of bringing Mother Earth back to her healthy

self is far from done.

Ask the people of Warren County, N.C. More than a decade ago, the residents of Warren County, a poor, nearly all African-Ameri-can county, came to the Commission for Racial Justice for help in stopping the state from placing a landfill in their county, which they feared would place toxic wastes in their community. After earlier PCB spills in their county,

they were fearful of what the health and economic repercussions would be. o The response of the staff of the commission was to join the residents of the county in laying in front of the first trucks scheduled to bring the

wastes into Warren County. Over a period of time, 500 people were arrested in Warren County in what became the beginning of a new movement, the environmental justice movement. It was, and is, a movement which seeks to end the dumping of toxic wastes in communities of people of color

across this nation.

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Last month, the Commission for Racial Justice journeyed back to Warren County to hear from residents what has happened since the state proceeded to dump PCB-laden waste in that county. What we heard was frightening and inspiring. It seems that landfill now has more than a million gallons of PCB-contaminated water in it, which has the potential to do great damage to all. It seems that high levels of dioxin, which the federal government has acknowledged is carcinogenic, have been found in monitoring wells sunounding the landfill. It seems that there is now an environmental crisis in Warren County because of the moral and ethical crisis which the state of North Carolina initiated when it forcibly sited a toxic PCB landfill in a community because it was poor, Black and disempowered. At the meeting with Warren County residents last month, we heard how drinking water has to be brought into elementary schools to protect the children, how property values have dropped and what the mental and spiritual impact has been on the young people growing up in that county. We heard the stories of the children of those who endured much over the past decade and who are fearful for their own health and that of t their families. The stories of the people were powerful and their continuing commitment to fight was inspiring. We also heard the voice of another leader in the battle for environmental justice in this country. It was brought, on tape, to the people of Warren County from the people of rural Louisiana. It was a word of thanks to the people of Warren County for their stand against injustice in their own state and for their willingness to lay in front of the trucks many years ago. It was a word of solidarity from one poor community of color just beginning its fight against environmental racism to a community of veterans in the struggle. Indeed, the people of Forest Grove, La. and Center Springs, La. are organizing to fight the same company that the Native American community in Prairie Island, Minn, is fighting, about the placement of used nuclear rods above the ground in their community. Environmental racism is alive, well and spreading. So, while we have planted trees and educated many Americans about the Environment over the past 25 years, there is much left to do. Only when environmental justice has been achieved in this country — when all people live in safe, viable communities free from ecological destruction and degradation—can we truly celebrate Earth Day for one and all.

Stand up:for your rights, against GOP contract

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“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of the injustice and wrong that will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they are resisted by words or blows or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those who they oppress.” These insightful words, uttered by Frederick Douglass in 1857, capture the dilemma facing Africans in America, people of color and poor and working people at this moment. The rise to power of the radical right and their zealous drive to impose their “Contract on America” poses one of the gravest dangers to civil rights and human rights in the history of this nation. Gingrich, Dole and the radical right are the shock troops for a power elite that is determined to destroy once and for all the principles embodied in the New Deal and a culture of rights and compassion that people fought to incorporate into the fabric of this society. They are equally determined to turn back the clock on civil rights to thwart the progress of African Americans and people of color in the historic drive to dismantle the edifice of white supremacy in this country. The radical right and their adherents would like to return to the mythical “good old days” of white male dominance. In this quest, Gingrich, Dole and company are ruthlessly utilizing racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry and anti-immigrationism to confuse, disorient, divide and exploit poor and working people. Their mission is to preserve and enhance the wealth, power and privilege of the corporate elite and the rich and superrich who rule this nation and much of the world. Black people and people of color are destined to take the brunt of this savage attack on poor and working people. We are perceived as lacking the power and will to effectively fight back. But we must fight back, with “words” and “blows.” African Americans and people of

color must spearhead an all-out struggle to break the “Contract on America.” We must fight to reaffirm a decent quality income or job, health care, quality education, a safe and clean environment and the right to organize and maintain unions are “inalienable rights” rights which cannot and must not be violated. There can be no concessions, no compromise, no retreat on this fundamental proposition in the face and defeat the radical right. Orgaof the Republican contract and the nize, organize, organize.... Welmachinations of the radical right, fare recipients who are being viliWe must fight back. Resistance fied and scapegoated by the radical and rebellion must spread like a right must organize and fight back, righteous conflagration across this The homeless, the unemployed and land. We must demand no cut- underemployed who Gingrich, backs in social services, no tax Dole and company feel they can cuts, tax reform thatcloses tax loop- victimize with impunity must orholes for the wealthy, an end to ganize and fight back. Labor, poor subsidies and welfare for the rich, and working people, students and drastic reductions in the military/ liberal/progressive-minded conwar budget and investment in a cemed people must Organize to peace economy, full employment break the “Contract on America.” with public service jobs where nec- There can be no retreat. We must essary, a moratorium on the con- fight for ajust and humane society, struction of prisons and jails, a halt apew society grounded in the printo privatization, strict enforcement ciple that the basic human rights of environmental regulations, a enumerated above must be guaranrenewed commitment tocivil rights teed to all of the people who live in and affirmative action, reparations this nation. The radical right and its for Africans in America... “Contract on America” are barriThere can be no retreat. We must ers, roadblocks in the path to a new fight the “Contract on America” society which must be swept aside

by resistance and rebellion. There can be no “business as usual” in the corporate board rooms, in the executive chambers of the White House or in the halls of Congress. We must aim telling blows at the heart of this racist-capitalist system. Mighty transnational corporations must fall before the determined blows. Boycotts of righteous people committed to reining in the reckless and irresponsible companies that wreak havoc on the lives of people in this country and the world. Politicians atall levels must face the fury of the,people whose lives are being wrecked by the “Contract on America.” Mass demonstrations, strikes, disruption, civil disobedience, fullscale resistance/rebellion; we must become ungovernable in the face of the tyranny of the radical right. As Frederick Douglass warned us, “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” In this crucial hour in history, I am certain he would agree with the exhortations of the late Rasta reggae revolutionary Bob Marley to “stand up for your rights.” Break the “Contract on America.” Fight for the creation of a new America and new world.

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