Dr. Robert Bullard said his wife drafted him into the environmental justice movement more than 40 years ago. Photo supplied
The people fighting to end systemic inequality have been talking to VICE for years. Now we're catching up with them to find out what's changed.
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Robert Bullard: I was in Houston, working as a sociologist and my wife, Linda McKeever Bullard, was an attorney. One day she came home and said, ‘Bob, I just sued the state of Texas’—the state was considering giving a permit for a landfill to be built in this Black neighborhood in Houston. I said, ‘Technically you sued my employer,’ because I worked for a state university.
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At the time environmentalism was considered a white, middle-class endeavor. We approached some of the white environmental groups to assist us with the case. We showed them the data and their response was: ‘Isn’t that where the landfills and garbage dumps are supposed to be?’ Black communities were considered compatible with garbage. The NAACP told us: ‘We don’t work on environment.’ It took more than a decade for environmental and civil rights groups to recognize how these issues converged.
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Black Lives Matter and George Floyd have raised awareness of systemic racism not only in policing, but also in housing, education, employment, and the environment. Now with COVID-19 it’s clear there is racism in our health system. The last year has been an awakening.The awakening of grassroots organizations, as well as academia and the legal profession has created more understanding. Environmental justice is now integrated across university curriculums. I’ve written 18 books—about housing, transportation, energy, food security, disaster response, health....All are really just one book. (Don’t tell anybody.) I mean, it’s about fairness, justice, and equity. What can the incoming Biden administration do to advance environmental justice?
It shouldn’t be all white environmental groups at the table, advising Biden and Harris about Cabinet appointments or how money should be spent. Biden is President-elect because Black people in South Carolina—and give credit to Congressman Jim Clyburn—rallied behind him. Black women who voted in record numbers. They need to be recognized.When we say to Biden, what are you going to do? Biden has to know that Black people had his back and we expect him to have ours. We’ll hold him to that.
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Justice has to be at the heart of all plans to address climate change from adaptation to mitigation. We’re getting more people to buy into this concept than 10 years ago, but there’s more work to be done.In 25 years, this country will be majority people of color. We don’t need to wait until 2045 to resource our people of color organizations and invest in new leaders. That’s why a group of us created the HBCU Climate Change Consortium that’s training a new generation of Black leaders in environment, climate, science, and policy. The fact that my generation, ‘baby boomers,’ are now outnumbered by millennials and younger—Marcela Mulholland: They call us zoomers.
(Laughs) Yeah. We’re outnumbered.That means we need to be preparing zoomers to take over positions that are being vacated by boomers. We don’t want to be looking around and saying, ‘Well, who’s going to fill this position? Who’s prepared?’The goal of our Consortium is to take on this intergenerational work of educating and organizing, so that the next generation is prepared.Any advice you would give this next generation of leaders?
I want them to take ownership of these issues so that they can speak with authority and authenticity and not be out there swinging in the wind with no constituency. Some people are out there talking with no bodies on the ground to back them up.
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I am optimistic that the next iteration of environmental justice leaders will look like America. Our movement should be representative in terms of gender, geography, ethnicity, area of expertise, etc.We don’t need everybody piled into one discipline. We need folks working across the board so that when young people step up, they can be called upon. Young people in engineering, urban planning, GIS mapping. I’m not just talking about folks with specific degrees—I mean having a PhD equivalent in organizing.Now that I am an elder—I’m 73—I understand the importance of getting young people involved. They can take it to a level that nobody dreamed of.How do you see the Black Lives Matter movement intersecting with environmental justice?
The way I see it, it’s just one movement. If you’re talking about Black Lives Matter, it’s about racial justice. In Louisiana, 30 years ago there were 15 plants around one community and people were saying, ‘We can’t breathe.’ We have protest signs from decades ago that look like they could have been made this past summer.
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I take it one day at a time. I look at the progress we’re making. When you have 30 students in a class you never know who is listening. And then 10 years later, a kid will come up to me and say: ‘Dr. Bullard, I was in your class and now I’m a toxicologist.’ Or: ‘I’m an environmental attorney.’ That keeps me going. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated Robert Bullard’s age.