Wednesday, 23 Oct 2002
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The Second People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit started today! On my way into Washington, D.C., from Baltimore, where I visited with friends last night, I was overwhelmed with excitement about the experience that awaited me -- the people I would meet, the connections I would make, the issues I would discuss, the new information I would learn, and the inspiration and hope that I would bring back with me afterward.
Although excited, I am actually kind of tired. I had a whirlwind day at the National Wildlife Federation headquarters yesterday. I had meetings from the time I arrived until the end of my work day. I hate meetings, but at least yesterday's were all very productive and helped provide some direction for me in terms of my new position. I have been charged with helping other staff think in new ways about how we do our work, the other people and organizations with whom we collaborate, and how best to use the resources available to us.
In my meetings yesterday, I was happy to learn that nine colleagues of mine from NWF will be attending at least a portion of the summit. This shows an admirable commitment to exploring the role that mainstream green groups can play in developing alliances with grassroots environmental justice organizations. This topic, I'm sure, will spark quite a bit of conversation at the summit. There is a panel this afternoon that will attempt to address the issue; the panelists include high-level staff from at least six mainstream environmental groups. There will also be a presentation entitled "Ten Years Later" that will discuss a letter sent to mainstream groups 10 years ago by the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice. That letter challenged these groups' exclusionary hiring practices and pointed out that many of their policy positions were detrimental to people of color in the Southwest United States. We'll see how far we've come in the past decade.
To clean up this stream, mainstrem and grassroots groups will need to work together.
I am in an interesting position as regards the relationship between mainstream and community-based groups. I work for a mainstream organization, but I belong to, work with, and have ties to many grassroots organizations. As a result, I have credibility in both worlds (although in some cases it took time to gain this credibility precisely because of having a foot in each world). In some situations, I have begun to bridge the gap; for example, I've been successful in getting NWF to be responsive to the needs and concerns of grassroots groups and the potential for productive collaboration.
Although operating in two sectors, I make it a point not to choose sides. My community interests make up the essence of who I am and keep me grounded. My mainstream connection is not something that I apologize for; it is something I try to use to benefit all people regardless of race and class to advance an environmental and social justice ethic. I can honestly say that my politics are the same no matter what arena I am operating in or what issue I'm working on.
In the lobby of the summit hotel, I reconnected with old and newer friends and colleagues from all sectors of the movement -- mainstream environmental groups, grassroots groups, government agencies, environmental consulting firms, and civil rights and social justice organizations. Despite the variety of these people's professional affiliations, I have worked with them all at some point in my journey to further the causes of environmental and social justice. This journey goes well beyond my professional commitments. It is my life's work, a purpose ordained by God, and I am answering the call.
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