 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 Profiles of Community Leaders: "Growing up in the Ironbound neighborhood in Newark
, I experienced firsthand the impacts of environmental injustice.
Although I felt a great sense of pride for my hardworking,
diverse community I could never shake the deep sense of resentment
about the degraded conditions we lived in – the abandoned
sites, foul odors, lack of greenspace. When we’d take
school trips to the suburbs, I was shocked at how pristine
everything looked and thought to myself – are my classmates
and I not worthy of this as well? This sense of injustice
fueled my commitment to the environmental justice movement.
At the time I didn’t know it was called environmental
justice.
As a teenager I joined my first protests of hazardous waste incinerators and I haven’t stopped since. I started my academic career dedicated to traditional environmental studies in Ecology, which later evolved into an interest in public policy and urban studies. The environmental justice problems I experienced in the Ironbound, I realized, were not just connected to physical problems in the environment but to economic, social and political problems facing communities like the Ironbound throughout the world. Today I have come full circle – I am completing my doctorate at Rutgers University ’s School of Planning and Policy focused on environmental justice policy making and I am working part time as an environmental justice and planning coordinator for the same organization that first invited me to join the incinerator protests as a teenager - Ironbound Community Corp. I still try to channel those youthful feelings of anger into activism founded in compassion and a deep sense of justice." 
|
"As a mother of three, member of First
Baptist Church of Nutley and youngest of seven siblings,
I have always lived my life with a belief that 'If it was
going to Be, It is up to Me' and with this I live my life
confronting environmental and social injustices to make communities
and life better for African Americans. My involvement
in the Environmental Justice movement is about establishing
networks and developing the next generation of Urban Environmental
Leaders because neighborhoods and populations are being disproportionately
exposed to multitudes of harmful substances at school, home,
work and community." |
I just wanted to be part of something that could
improve conditions in my community. I was also heavily involved
in the leadership of my local Catholic Youth Group where
environmental issues were not considered much by city kids.
The environment was some foreign hippy issue - but in the
context of social justice, service and compassion, I found
I could rally my colleagues into action through clean ups
and other local activities.