Black, Brown, and Indigenous Climate Justice Activists Take Center Stage in NYC

The following is part of a series of opinion pieces Common Dreams is publishing in the lead-up to the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday, September 17 in New York City. Read the rest of the series and our complete coverage here.

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s dangerously hot out there. Record-breaking heat—an all-too-familiar byproduct of climate change—has claimed 142 American lives this Summer and closed schools across the East Coast. Category 5 Hurricane Lee hovers near the Caribbean only days after Hurricane Idalia pounded Florida with 125 mile-per-hour winds while more than 1,000 Hawaiians lost their lives to the wildfires in Maui.

The climate crisis is killing us. And we know the racial wealth gap that besieges Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities exponentially increases their risk of exposure to environmental and climate disasters. It’s why our multiracial movement of climate leaders and defenders is turning up the volume over the bullhorn at next week’s March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City—bringing the crisis to the footsteps of the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit.

BIPOC communities have always lived at the intersection of wealth disparity and the climate crisis. For example, more than half of households in South Los Angeles—a community composed mostly of people of color—live below the poverty level. Nearly three-fifths of people living in that neighborhood didn’t have access to air conditioning in 2020. Moreover, a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies discovered that more than 30% of Black New Orleans residents didn’t own cars, which could’ve helped them escape Hurricane Katrina ahead of the storm. In fact, low-income communities of color are often systemically herded into low-lying areas that are at higher risk of catastrophic flooding from hurricanes.

As the largest progressive grassroots organizing network in the country, alongside 600+ organizations, we are mobilizing the largest march of civil society since the start of the pandemic to put all eyes on President Joe Biden and demand an end to fossil fuels.

Communities of color are disproportionately affected by diseases from air pollution caused by fossil fuel extraction and emissions. Federal policies have consistently greenlit corporations to earmark historically redlined areas as convenient covert landfills for oil and gas wells. More than 17 million folks living near them experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease, asthma, higher Alzheimer’s disease risk, and preterm births.

Then there’s Cancer Alley—where 30 large petrochemical plants are concentrated near primarily Black neighborhoods along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. These plants—including the Shintech ethylene plant—have polluted the air, seeped blue runoff into roadside ditches, and contaminated the water. Now, 1 of every 10 households has a prospect of at least one cancer death.

Last week the U.N. released an alarming report stating, “The window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing,” The globe has to cut its emissions of heat-trapping gases by 43% by 2030, and 60% by 2035, the report said. In order to meet these goals “the phase-out of unabated fossil fuels is required.”

As the largest progressive grassroots organizing network in the country, alongside 600+ organizations, we are mobilizing the largest march of civil society since the start of the pandemic to put all eyes on President Joe Biden and demand an end to fossil fuels. The crisis demands that we amplify the voices of communities most impacted alongside powerful organizations like Make the Road NY, NY Communities for Change, and countless others traveling from as far away as Alaska.

Since Earth Day 2023 we have led escalated protests and civil disobedience to urge the Biden administration to act. We visited cities across America with a 120-foot banner, shut down public events and fundraisers to demand Biden declare a climate emergency and end the era of fossil fuels once and for all. As global leaders and heads of state gather this week’s first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit hosted by the U.N. Secretary-General, we need President Biden, arguably the most critical global leader, to bring the most ambitious plan to phase out fossil fuels. Since the start of his administration, he has approved more fossil fuel projects than former President Donald Trump—a step backward from what is truly needed.

It is true that the climate justice movement has historically struggled to be a truly multiracial movement that centers the voices of those most impacted by the unfolding crisis, and, even though climate mitigation only receives 2% percent of philanthropic giving and BIPOC-led organizations even less than that, it is Black, Indigenous, immigrant, working-class people of color who have been leading the efforts in the lead up to this historic march in NYC.

Last week’s New York Times/Siena poll showed Black and Brown voters have cooled toward the president. We urge him to woo that crucial voting bloc that elected him. The Inflation Reduction Act is a crucial first step, but it falls short of confronting the true scope of the crisis.

As Congress returns to the Capitol and Dems hit the campaign trail this election season, we demand that lawmakers and the White House make good on promises to end our reliance on fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy now before we’re past the point of no return.