The Collision of Race, Health, Education, and Climate
A discussion of the interconnections, what you can do to help fight these crises, and the work I have been of a part with the Harvard Forward campaign.
In 2013, I was coming back from Miami. I had just finishing volunteering with my church. My work focused on running a Vacation Bible School for children in the area. While on the bus the final verdict in the Trayvon Martin case was given. My heart sank after hearing that George Zimmerman would face no jail time. As one of the black individuals in the group, I felt my views may be overshadowed so I did not want to speak on how I was feeling. Little did I know that feeling would be common and I would spend years feeling like individuals really would not understand all the challenges that blacks and people of color face in the United States.
To say these last months and weeks have been challenging to me is an understatement. I had been feeling taxed by serving as a public health educator daily, racial educator, climate advocate, had to manage my job and living this year in isolation while trying to form any semblance that I was doing well. At the end of May, I decided to disconnect from the world. My mental health was at an all-time low from the pandemic and personal struggles, and I felt getting back to the more basic things could help. I deleted my social media apps and tried to be off my phone as much as possible. This occurred a few days before the national response to George Floyd’s murder. I was immediately thrown into a new sense. Another black life killed by the hands of individuals whose duty is or was to protect and serve. As an avid runner from Georgia, the Ahmaud Arbery case felt personal because I’m often running through various areas throughout the day. Breonna Taylor’s added more heartbreak, and now George Floyd. How can one cope with consisted of adverse news, especially during a pandemic where many of these communities are the hardest hit? To make matters worse oftentimes in cases justice was not served.
Race
During these times I was often asked if I felt different from things going on in the world against blacks and people of color. I said that things have not been any new and the same things have been happening for generations. The same principals of speaking softly, avoiding situations where you are perceived a threat, and the thought of being less than others. George Floyd’s murder was a symptom of a problem that has caused many deaths, and destruction to communities throughout time.
Institutional racism has formed the backbone of the country. From “Black Codes” and Jim Crow laws post the Civil War, to disenfranchisement and segregation of schools of and colleges. These intergenerational hurdles have made it hard for these individuals. How can one amass generational wealth if there is not a fair opportunity to learn and work? As a result, many of our parents or grandparents took the jobs they could. With a focus on manufacturing and service-related jobs, the cities became an attractive place to work, and new communities formed. This was not without. These areas though often were some of the lowest income areas. Seeing that there would be less of a battle industrial facilities, power plants, and hazardous facilities would often be sited near them.
Health
Environmental racism can cause communities of color to be exposed to various harmful exposures. Hazardous waste facilities in host neighborhoods that are in 44 states have disproportionately high percentages of minority groups with an average disparity between the host neighborhoods and nonhost areas are 24% vs. 11% for African Americans, 17% vs. 9.0% for Hispanics, and 4.5% vs. 2.2% for Asians/Pacific Islanders. These individuals have to face added health burdens such as asthma, emphysema, and the potential development of COPD.
Furthermore, many individuals in these communities live in food deserts, lacking access to quality nutrition. Additional health complications can develop from the lack of adequate nutrition as well as green spaces. This is further complicated with lower insurance rates with a fifth of blacks and a third of Hispanics uninsured compared to 13% of uninsured in whites fire to the ACA passage. This leads to additional complications when individuals are seeking treatment.
Education
From an early age, black students have to deal with implicit bias. They are four times as likely to be expelled when compared to white students, while even in pre-school they are 3.6 times as likely to get expelled. Additionally, there are lower rates of referrals to gifted programs (side note: in 2006 I thought my mother my sue the Cobb County Board of Education regarding attempts to not include me in advance classes even though I tested in). There are racial disparities for access to advanced placement options in high school for people of color is reduced. Additionally, students are color are more likely to experience chronic absenteeism. Personally I have always had to fight to receive an adequate opportunity education. Coming from a single-parent home there often times there was a stigma and assumptions. The list is numerous but included missing class for most of my 4th-grade year, the school system trying remove from accelerated classes, teachers stating that they will make things up for me to get suspended, etc. I was, fortunately, able to write about these experiences in my application to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, though it is exhausting.
This creates a concept known as preschool to prison phenomenon. Students miss school, grades fail, and future prospects decrease. There may be fewer educational opportunities. Turning to non-legal activities may be an option to recover lost opportunities due to systemic racism. Students looking for help from school resources may be out of luck, as 1.6 million students attend schools without a counselor but with a police officer, which further focuses on attention to policing over treatment. In another world, if I was not as strong through my situations my life could have turned out differently.
Climate
In 2018, I first hand saw the impacts that Hurricane Maria and Irma had on the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The federal response was slowed compared to responses to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida. Yes, there were logistical challenges due to island nations though that does not serve as an excuse. These islands of Americans were lacking from an adequate response and due to the factor that both are primarily Hispanic and black was a factor. People of color are faced with barriers to safe and clean communities, along with challenges to receive an adequate education. The year 2020 has brought attention to crises’ that have been here for centuries.
A key reason I studied environmental science and environmental health is to tackle these issues. Since I was in 11th grade I started learning about how many of the climate burdens would fall on populations around the world. The trend was the same individuals with lower incomes bore the majority of problems. Increased hurricane intensity, vector-borne disease pandemics, flooding, droughts, agricultural losses, and forced migrations are some of the various climate impacts felt around the world. In the United States impacts would be faced on the coasts and in agriculture. Additionally, communities near these fossil fuel facilities driving climate change would be impacted with a host of health issues. Those with adequate resources could move while others would-be bore to suffer the loss.
Harvard Forward Board of Overseers Campaign
Over the past 10 months, I have been part of a campaign called Harvard Forward. I have always been interested in political campaigns and student government. Working in the federal government politics is always on my mind as it dictates how our work will be completed. In September of 2019, I was looking for new ways to be engaged in the environmental space, I thought about filming educational videos, writing op-eds, and things in that nature. Well, things time well because as I was thinking of that I was reached out about joining an environmental campaign to get Harvard University to divest from fossil fuels and become a climate leader. Together with John Beatty, Lisa Bi Huang, Margaret Purce, and Thea Sebastion we formed a group to fight for these changes.
The spotlight on these crisis’ in months has increased the relevance of Harvard Forward. By addressing climate and air pollution impacts to work towards climate justice, we can help lessen the health burden that people of color and low resource experience. Creating inclusive governance helps in ensuring all voices are represented in the room and that policies and practices are used to keep the voices and opportunities of others down. Responsible investing can help put money into initiatives that will work and create solutions. Continual investments in fossil fuels will not only lead to climate and health impacts but will also lead to substantial financial losses. Fossil fuel divestment has been advocated for schools across the country and Harvard students, alums, and faculty serving as responsible way to transition assets into the future. Our platform also details how we are working to support Black Lives Matter, prison divestment, ethnic studies coalition, COVID-19 responses, and renaming the Board of Overseers.
The inspiration for Harvard Forward came from Harvard Radcliffe Alumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA) campaigns of1980s which worked for Harvard’s divestment from apartheid South Africa. The HRAAA ran Overseer campaigns between 1986 and 1989 to elect pro-divestment alumni to the Board of Overseers. They were successful electing four petition Overseers including Archbishop Desmond. They continued until 1993, which included an unsuccessful run from law school alumni, Barack Obama, in 1991. They ended in 1993 following the end of apartheid. Harvard Forward’s goal is to work in a way similar to help create change. We are now in the final weeks of the campaign with the election ending and alums have the opportunity to vote for this. We have the chance to truly make history and effect change at one of the world’s most well-known and influential institutions. And as each day goes on I really think we will be able to.
Conclusion
Racism has been here and is rooted in every institutional today. Eliminating it completely is impossible, though denouncing it and working to dismantle the structures that it is engrained in is possible. It is key to identify how it is interconnected in a variety of areas that impact individuals. So to tackle things it will take a diverse approach with various actors and allies in different communities. As Martin Luther King Jr. “If I can not do great things, I can do great things in a small way.” Our actions matter and the added sum can make substantial. The international response on these issues in months have brought greater attention I wanted to share some ways to act to address racial as it relates to health, climate, and individuals.
Things you can against these crises
- Donate and volunteer with groups fighting these issues
2. Environment Groups
- 350.org
- National Resource Defense Council
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Climate Reality Project
- Sierra Club
- Harvard Forward
- Yale Forward
3. Racial Justice Groups
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- Black Lives Matter
- Bail funds
- The Bail Project
- Community Justice Exchange
4. Health Groups
- American Red Cross
- Unicef
- American Public Health Association
- National Environmental Health Association
- American Cancer Society
- The Carter Center
- World Health Organization
- The World Bank
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
5. Vote in university, city, state, and national elections
6. Run for public office
7. Volunteer with local community organizations and non-profits
8. Create an employee diversity and inclusion committee at your workplace
- Diversity and Inclusion Initiative: A Step By Step Guide
- Diversity and inclusion: 8 best practices for changing your culture
9. Implement sustainable practices at your job and home
- Guide to Developing an Environmental Management System — Plan
- Project Drawdown
- 100 Easy Ways to be More Eco Friendly
10. Read books related to these crisis’
Climate Change/Environment
- Extreme Cities
- Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility
- An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About it?
- Silent Spring
- As Long as the Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock
- This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
- Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change
- Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
- No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
Race
- Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment
- Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard
- Why are all the black people sitting together in the cafeteria?
- Becoming
- Citizen: An American Lyric
- Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Health
- The Political Determinants of Health
- The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care — and How to Fix It
- An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back
- The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World
11. Speak at local community events and projects
11. Engage with friends and family
- Listen to each other’s stories
12. Raise children to have the principles
13. Always seek to Learn. Education is a key thing to help us address these issues.
