Julianne Malveaux

Historically, this country has turned a blind eye to the many environmental injustices that plague communities of color. Terms like climate change and environmental racism weren’t even a part of the American lexicon until recently. Back in the day, we lived in homes with lead paint and it was nothing to see old tires dumped alongside the road. Black clouds from steel mills and coal mines drifting over the heads of little Black and Brown boys and girls playing outside meant nothing to us – it was just a part of what Marvin Gaye called “Inner City Blues.” The time has come to change that narrative. We can no longer allow our children and our communities to suffer from neglect and a calculus that values some lives over others.