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African American History Month February 2012: Honoring Public Health and Environmental Justice Leaders “There is an environmental revolution going on in the United States and abroad. The struggle for environmental justice was not created in the 1990’s. People of color, individually and collectively, have waged war against environmental injustices that predates the first Earth Day in 1970. They were social and economic injustices that were embedded in institutional racism. Lack of services, land use and zoning issues, inadequate, intolerable hazardous living and work conditions. These were environmental problems in the sixties, they were environmental problems in the seventies, they were environmental problems in 1 the 1990’s,” and they still are environmental problems today. Dr. Robert Bullard Carl Anthony Breakthrough Communities Carl Anthony is the co-founder and Co-Director of Breakthrough Communities and a former acting Director of Community and Resource Development Unit at the Ford Foundation responsible for worldwide programs on the environment and community development. He was also the founder and first Executive Director of the Urban Habitat Program in San Francisco, one of the oldest environmental justice organizations that works to promote multicultural leadership in the environmental movement. He is “We need to lead the publisher emeritus of the Race, Poverty and Environment Journal (in its 20th year in larger society to print) and was President of Earth Island Institute from 1991 through 1998. understand issues of Mr. Anthony has spent his career searching for ways to mobilize and solve problems of environmental, racial social justice. and social justice.” Dr. Robert D. Bullard http://drrobertbullard.com/ Currently the Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, Dr. Robert Bullard is often described as the father of environmental justice. He is the author of seventeen books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, emergency "Just because you're response, smart growth, and regional equity. Professor Bullard was featured in the July poor, just because you 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White. In 2008, live physically on the Newsweek named him one of 13 Environmental Leaders of the Century. And that same wrong 'side of the track' year, Co-op America honored him with its Building Economic Alternatives Award (BEA). doesn't mean that you In 2010, The Grio named him one of the “100 Black History Makers in the Making” and should be dumped on." Planet Harmony named him one of Ten African American Green Heroes.” 1 Dr. Robert Bullard, “A Dream Deferred: 30 Years After the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” U.S. Department of Justice Symposium, November 30, 1994. Dr. Benjamin Chavis Benjamin Chavis (once known as Benjamin Chavis Muhammad) is an African American civil rights leader. In his youth, Dr. Chavis was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement. Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten. A former Vice President of the National Council of Churches, Dr. Chavis became the Executive Director of the NAACP, and he served as the National Director of the Million Man March as well as the Founder and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). Since 2001 he has been CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in New York City which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Dr. Chavis joined with “There's room in this Ezell Brown in 2009 to establish Education Online Services Corporation which is movement for headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida. everybody. I see the torch of leadership Because of Dr. Chavis' scientific background, in 1981, he was the first person to coin the being passed to young term environmental racism: “Racial discrimination in the deliberated targeting of ethnic brothers and sisters in a and minority communities for exposure to toxic and hazardous waste sites and facilities, new generation who are coupled with the systematic exclusion of minorities in environmental policy making, rising to the occasion enforcement, and remediation.” To prove the validity of his definition, Chavis in 1986 out of their own rights.” conducted and published the landmark national study: Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America, that statistically revealed the direct correlation between race and the location of toxic waste throughout the United States. Marian Wright Edelman Children’s Defense Fund Marian Wright Edelman was the first African American woman admitted in the Mississippi Bar when she began practicing law out of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.'s Mississippi office. During her time in Mississippi, she worked on racial justice issues connected with the civil rights movement and represented activists throughout the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. Mrs. Edelman moved in 1968 to Washington, D.C. where she continued her work and contributed to the organizing of the Poor People's Campaign of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and also became interested in issues related to childhood development and “A nation that does not poverty-stricken children. stand up for its children does not stand for In 1973, she founded the Children's Defense Fund as a voice for poor, minority and anything and will not disabled children. The organization has served as an advocacy and research center for stand strong in the children's issues, documenting the problems and possible solutions to children in need. twenty-first century.” As founder, leader and principal spokesperson for the CDF, Mrs. Edelman worked to persuade Congress to overhaul foster care, support adoption, improve child care and If you don’t like the way protect children who are disabled, homeless, abused or neglected. the world is, you have an obligation to change it. Just do it one step at a time.” Dr. Helene D. Gayle CARE International Humanitarian Organization Dr. Helene D. Gayle earned an MD at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPH at Johns Hopkins University. She is board-certified in pediatrics and was the first female and first African-American director of the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB prevention for the US Centers for Disease Control. After 20 years with the CDC, she left to direct the HIV, TB and reproductive health program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is now president and CEO of CARE USA, a leading humanitarian aid organization fighting global poverty. “Optimism with a healthy dose of realism is a winning combination.” Dr Marilyn Hughes Gaston Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston was the first African American woman to direct a public health service bureau (the Bureau of Primary Health Care in the US Dept of Health and Human Services). She was also deputy chief in the Sickle Cell Disease Branch at the National Institutes of Health. A Maryland resident since 1976, Dr. Hughes M.D., has dedicated her career to improving medical care for poor and minority families and to the promotion of health care equality for all Americans. Dr. Gaston is internationally recognized for her leadership in combating sickle cell disease and changes in management of children with this illness that have significantly decreased suffering and mortality in the world. In September 2006, Dr. Gaston received a Purpose Prize from Civic Ventures for her co- “I always tell students development of Prime Time Sister Circles, a nationwide health and empowerment that your heroes and initiative targeting mid-life African American women. Dr. Gaston is also co-author of the your sheroes are not just book Prime Time, which helps Black women address health issues and other disparities. in the history books, they're not just on TV, but they're all around you. And to look for them, and to ask them to mentor you.” Hazel M. Johnson, 1935 – 2011 People for Community Recovery Hazel M. Johnson, a longtime resident of Chicago's Altgeld Gardens public housing development and environmental activist, fought corporate polluters and rallied residents to protest contamination. She founded a group called People for Community Recovery and put pressure on the Chicago Housing Authority to remove asbestos from Altgeld Gardens. Mrs. Johnson focused much of her organization's work on educating minority communities about urban environmental hazards. She became known as the mother of the environmental justice movement. Her work in Chicago led to the national stage, where she joined a group of activists in urging President Bill Clinton to sign the Environmental Justice order. Ms. Johnson served on the U.S. EPA's first National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), established on September 30, 1993. Cheryl Johnson People for Community Recovery Cheryl Johnson took up the work of her mother, Hazel Johnson, and became the Executive Director of People for Community Recovery (PCR). She has worked for over 20 years to educate the Chicago community about environmental racism, pollution and urban health including lead poisoning. PCR's mission is to enhance the quality of life for low-income residents living in communities affected by pollution. Van Jones Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean energy economy, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and American Progress Action Fund. As an advisor to the Obama White House, he helped run the inter-agency process that oversaw $80 billion in green recovery spending. A Yale Law School graduate, he has a 20-year track record as a successful, innovative and award-winning social entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of three successful nonprofit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All.

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