Where Do We Go from Here? (Summer 2003)

A Look at the Long Road to Environmental Justice (Vol. 10, No. 1: Summer 2003)

This issue of Race, Poverty and the Environment both celebrates the EJ Movement and offers a critique of it. At this critical point in EJ history, RPE takes a big-picture look at the Movement's past, present and future. In the "Looking Back" section, three articles explore the relationship between EJ and the Civil Rights Movement, examining lessons learned from liberation struggles of the 60s and 70s, as well as failures and missteps to avoid. With this hindsight and analysis, the EJ Movement has the potential to be even more powerful and effective than the social change struggles that preceded it. Another article delves into the tensions between EJ and the environmental movement. The section ends with a review of key milestones in the Movement's history.

The next section on "Current Issues" starts off with a couple of reflections on Summit 11. Additional articles address key topics such as the challenge of developing a national environmental justice agenda and the question of leadership-What is it? How is it developed? How are grassroots leadership and other forms of leadership nurtured and maintained? The next piece, "Who's Got the Power?" tackles the potentially contentious relationship between grassroots EJ groups and "intermediaries."

Solutions for ethnic and gender divisions within the movement are also suggested. This section ends with a discussion about the need for crossmovement alliances and a roundup of some exciting strategies being employed by E J organizations across the country. Finally, in "Looking Forward,"this issue offers commentary from some key EJ leaders about how to build our Movement from this moment forward. It also provides perspectives on EJ-related issues such as equitable development and immigration. "The Next Generation" brings together an array of youth voices to express the needs of young people in the Movement.

The section ends with three articles exploring the connections between local and global struggles and highlighting some exciting projects that are working toward realizing the vision of international environmental justice.

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Inside This Issue...
2 News From Urban Habitat
3 News From the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment
4 About This Issue

Looking Back

5 Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement: An interview with Damu Smith

9 What Can EJ Learn from the Civil Rights Movement? A Critical Look
By Van Jones, Esq.

11 Learning from Our Past
By Sofia Martinez

12 Green Politics and Civil Rights
By Salim Muwakkil

14 Environmental Justice Milestones

Current Issues: The Big Picture

16 Reflections on the Second National People of Color Summit
By Michele Roberts

18 Reflections: A Filipina's Perspective
By Aimee Suzara

19 The Vision Thing
By Richard Moore

21 Looking for Leadership
A roundtable discussion with Carl Anthony, Juliet Ellis and Angela Glover Blackwell

Current Issues: Conflicts & Resolutions

26 Who's Got the Power?
By Rinku Sen

28 We Must All Be Accountable in a Grassroots Movement
By Penn Loh

29 Overcoming Internalized Racial Oppression
By Ron Chisom, with David Billings

31 Women's Work
Contributors: Beverly Wright, Susana Alrnanza and Sayo':kla Kindness

Current Issues: EJ in Action

33 Movement to Movement
By Elizabeth Tan

35 Case Study: Linking Local to Global
By Michael Guerrero

36 Strategies that Work
By Kimberly Paulson

Looking Forward

38 Movement Building
Contributors: Joselito Laudencia, Peggy M. Shepard, Lukata IVljumbe, Cynthia Rojas

42 The Next Generation
Multiple youth contributors

44 Immigration, Population and Environmental Justice
By Arnoldo Garcia

46 Resident Ownership Mechanisms: From Stakeholder to Stockholder
By Heather McCulloch and Lisa Robinson for PolicyLink

49 Confronting Environmental Racism in the 21st Century
By Robert D. Bullard