Practical Ideas for an anti-racist radical ecological movement

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By Maria

While I’m excited to be a part of Earth First! at a time when the movement as a whole seems to be making a concerted effort to break with a past littered with xenophobia, racism and other oppressive elements, it’s still frustrating to see expressions of white-dominated culture manifest themselves in other ways, unchallenged and invisible to those who benefit from this social arrangement. Our solutions thus far have mostly involved creating more discussion spaces that deal with these issues and arguing over the same points time and time again about the necessity of “people of color (POC)-only spaces,” the reality and construction of race in our countries, about the liberatory possibilities of nationalism, indigenous fetishization (which is sadly more prevalent than I had hoped prior to becoming involved in EF!) and tokenization. While these discussions raise great points, they are not enough. They might be illuminating or interesting to some people, but as a consequence of feeling personally affected by some of them, I have talked these issues to death both at ecological gatherings and in my day-to-day life.
This article proposes a few concrete focus-and attitude-shifts which I believe are necessary to expand our movement and make it something that people of color can feel more comfortable calling ourselves a part of—without taking too much time away from learning practical land-based and conservation skills, and organizing local ecological campaigns (which are the primary reasons I attend gatherings, read the Earth First! Journal and organize with my local group).

Some New Focuses

Physical accessibility speaks for itself. If people can’t get to where the action is, or if they think the difficulty in getting there isn’t worth the payoff, they’ll not only refrain from being involved but will also feel marginalized and discouraged. The EF! Organizers’ Conference (OC) in 2006 was my second time camping. Ever. And I was 20 years old. Twenty-five percent of African-American households, 17 percent of Latino households and 13 percent of Asian-American households do not own a car, compared to just seven percent of White households. It was an enormous honor and privilege to be in that swamp, and I anticipated the following year’s OC even more, knowing I’d get a break from the concrete, the gunshots and the constant din of cars on 79th St. in Miami. I would never want the OCs or Round River Rendezvous (RRRs) out of the wild, but very well-coordinated transportation should always be a priority to such events. The 2006 OC in South Florida brought some activists up from South America, which is a stellar example of this effort.
Food security and food justice are important issues for folks who grew up or are living in the inner city, whether we define the struggle to eat well in those terms or not. Based on the 1997 Current Population Survey, 42 percent of Native Americans, 15 percent of Blacks, nine percent of Hispanics and five percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders lived in rural areas. By comparison, 23 percent of Whites lived in rural areas.
The nearest supermarket to the apartment my boyfriend and I shared in Miami treated us to dusty expired cans; nasty meat; smelly fish (hint, fish should only smell like salt-water. That “fishy” smell means it’s not fresh), sodium, corn-syrup and MSG- packed “convenience” foods; and rotting vegetables and fruits. The alternatives were overpriced convenience stores and gas stations which sell more alcohol, cigarettes, candy and starchy bleached foods than fruits or vegetables. In some neighborhoods, these establishments replace supermarkets, or the supermarkets are too far to walk to safely at night. The distribution of food does not exist in a vacuum outside of the raising, growing and processing of foods. Monoculture, grazing, hunting, genetically modified foods, farm subsidies and localization of food production are all important ecological issues. I won’t pretend that these don’t have vital social justice elements to them, as well, because I don’t conceive of biocentrism in a way that artificially separates humans from the rest of the planet. I would love to see EF! expending more energy confronting the way food gets to our plate and the ways that this process destroys ecosystems, animals and the physical and mental strength of our communities. I’m sure folks who grew up constantly getting sick with food poisoning would dig it, as well.
What Isn’t Working
White people need to stop parroting oversimplified, anti-racist bullet-points in ways that are not only incorrect but also create confusion and backlash amongst those who might otherwise be interested in learning about anti-racism, or act like Critical Race Theory (an academia-soaked philosophy to begin with) is the only lens through which to examine and understand race relations. These people are decent enough, but they sometimes come across as guilt-ridden, wishy-washy ass-kissers, selling out their beliefs in a well-meaning, but condescending attempt to “forge bonds with the oppressed,” or whatever. A statement like “people of color can’t be racist” with no context or follow-up makes no sense in the popular imagination, defying all common definitions of the word “racist” and being subsumed into activist-speak, which makes it even easier to marginalize. Think about this before you paste it into your next zine or workshop outline. A much subtler way of seeming “down” that I’ve noticed lately is the tendency of some white radicals to occasionally adopt the mannerisms, dress, accents or (sub)culture of people of color in order to attract them to their cause or group. This is insulting, disingenuous and doesn’t work anyhow.
Over-population and the problems it raises are not a strict numerical equation. Less people overall won’t necessarily create less wilderness destruction. It is also a class and race issue. Would the natural world and its people stop being exploited if every person in Africa or on the Mexican border disappeared tomorrow? There might be less labor, but machines are there to pick up the slack. By presenting the problem of humans consuming too many resources and infringing on wild spaces as one that can be solved (or, as some believe, will inevitably and unfortunately be solved) simply by less people being around, white people remain blind to the racist, colonialist and anti-choice historical baggage that comes with mostly white movements presupposing to know what’s best for non-white families. Reading up on forced sterilization of women of color in the US and other medical horrors inflicted upon POC by “concerned” white people, welfare reform in the ‘90s and critiques of the transnational adoption industry is helpful to further understand these connections.

What We Ought to Recognize and Come to Terms With
It’s important to recognize that white movements attract white people. Or rather, white people attract white people. Similar dynamics exist with many other racial/ethnic groups in this country due to the highly segregated nature of the US. Examining this country’s racist history (and present), the social contexts of different cultures and subcultures, the demographics of poverty, and the purposes of particular social institutions will help glean some understanding of this, but that is beyond the scope of this piece.
However, individual EF! groups ought to continue to check themselves on incestuous organizing (what one might call preaching to the choir, reaching out only to the same white punks at every show or using specifically white subcultural imagery and language in promotional materials and discussions). If EF! groups don’t do this, they should not act surprised that it’s the same people or demographic of people showing up to everything. I’m not suggesting that certain people cover up their Crass tattoos or EF! groups attempt to acquire token individuals of every race and ethnicity in order to appear diverse. Instead, recognize that we have an important message that has the potential for broad appeal. Trying to keep young, white punk kids in familiar territory, physically and mentally, should not hinder sharing our strategies and values. That, or just accept that yours is a small group with a few of your friends who, if you are white, are probably white, too.
When strategizing our outreach efforts, it’s also vital to understand that different individuals have different relationships to their landbase. Many of us grew up in concrete jungles, having had little to no experience with wilderness, having never seen a mountain or stream in real life, our animal encounters being primarily with house pets and vermin. Wilderness is a far-away dream or a nightmare filled with malevolent beasts and certain death from starvation. Knowing and caring enough about nature to give up conveniences and put your body and freedom on the line is not an automatic, instinctual process. However, I think that gatherings and other camp-outs can help set this process in motion.
Finally, I’d like to suggest that we, as radical environmentalists of color, recognize the class make-up of our POC spaces. Did almost everyone attend the same private liberal arts colleges as the white people in the other room? Perhaps we grew up in the same variety of suburban neighborhoods or woodsy gated communities, or worked at the same non-profits? Anywhere from 20-25 percent of Hispanics, Blacks and Native Americans/Native Alaskans live in poverty, compared to only eight percent of Whites. Do our groups reflect this statistic at all, or are they hugely skewed in another direction? As someone who grew up poor, I’ve occasionally personally felt as out of place amongst affluent, academic activists of color as I have among working-class or poor white people.
We must recognize that we have different cultural and racial differences in our experiences and relationships to white supremacy as compared to our white comrades, but we need to ask ourselves similar questions about diversity to those we’re asking white people. I recently expressed to a Colombian friend (who, with the exception of one group, is very turned off by Earth First!) how much I respect the work that EF! does and my desire to work within the movement in spite of some of the unsavory attitudes and individuals I and others have encountered. Hopefully, the thoughts in this piece will inspire readers to refine and craft new strategies for dealing with the white supremacy, racism and xenophobia that transcend shallow analysis and tokenization.

I have worked in several

I have worked in several environmentalist coalitions comprising of both frontline community organizations as well as well-financed 'big green' groups and I have recognized several of the same issues brought up in this article. There is a startling amount of arrogance, privilege, and racism at play. I don't think that earth first environmentalist movements are inherently a white thing, especially considering that the communities most effected by the earth's destruction are primarily working class neighborhoods of color (proximity of coal plants to certain areas, etc). It angers me to see liberals in groups like Greenpeace attempt to speak for these communities, or organize demonstrations in these neighborhoods without working with, contacting, or supporting the struggles of already existing environmental justice organizations.

For those involved in environmental justice struggles I suggest reading the following materials and be up front with people when you are forced to work with liberals:

Principles of Environmental Justice - http://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html

Principles of Working Together - http://howgreenischicago.org/node/workingtogether.pdf

Principles of Alliance with Green Groups - http://howgreenischicago.org/node/greengroups.pdf

I find most of this

I find most of this agreeable, but disagree on the population issue. While most people concerned about over-population seem to be white liberals and "philanthropists" in over-developed countries who do focus mostly on populations in Asia, Africa, etc. I am skeptical that EF!ers and other radicals have the same focus. Many radicals concerned about over-population point out that people in these areas use much less "resources" per person than Americans, therefore the numerically fewer Americans have a higher ecological impact. One can acknowledge that population is a problem without resorting to neo-colonial attitudes. We must get our own house in order while differentiating our position from hypocrites like Bill Gates ( http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6350303.ece ). We must acknowledge imbalanced human population as just one problem in a matrix of problems caused by industrial civilization.

this is sound logic. i am

this is sound logic. i am sick to death of hearing attitudes that seem to sound like "those damn brown people are breeding again". i really don't hear this that much at all (outside of dave foreman though i read a book relativly recently that was a dialouge between that rightist idiot and fucking bookchin where he said he regreted how he sounded and attempted to give some little speeches about what human beings go through and denounced a certain "miss ann thropy" for her comments on africa and AID's) but, none the less, even once is too many times for my taste, fuck that attitude: the consumerism of the "developed" world is much more to blame. of course i don't agree with some of the drop out's who seem to take an attitude that the worker is as much to blame as the rich (we all share some "blame" if we must use that term but, none the less, there is no contest), or normal consumerism as much to blame as, say, industry itself, which is the bottomline cause along with large scale agriculture. everything does figure into a pattern but some parts of said pattern, after all, are more relevant and worthy of immidiate attack then others, least as far as i am concerned.

Read This

Read This http://www.sacredfools.org/crimescene/casefiles/s2/shipoffoolsstory.htm

Environmental protection should supersede all other leftist issues, unless 10 years from now we want be living on the edge of extinction and on the verge of collapse still debating white privilege and racism.

I really dig this piece, but

I really dig this piece, but ...

"arguing over the same points time and time again about the ... liberatory possibilities of nationalism..."

The other points raised in the paragraph I agree with, but I don't imagine I'll ever agree with the "liberatory possibilities of nationalism," and hopefully anarchists will continue to challenge this position. I understand where folks with this perspective are coming from, but I don't accept it at all. It seems kind of a cheap shot that this is thrown in with the others, as if opposing nationalism is akin to other racist behavior.

Glad to see this on the net

Glad to see this on the net and not just in the EF! Journal. Thanks Maria

-Sleeper

Sorry, those Environmental

Sorry, those Environmental Justice links were broken, so here they are:

Principles of Alliance with Green Groups:
http://www.ejnet.org/ej/greengroups.pdf

Principles of Working Together
http://www.ejnet.org/ej/greengroups.pdf

Man I suck, here's that

Man I suck, here's that second links: http://www.ejnet.org/ej/workingtogether.pdf

At the beginning you said

At the beginning you said you felt this had been talked to death. And in the last sections we're left feeling like we have to talk about it all again. I think it's been talked to death. If there is overt racism sexism, homophobia, call that shit out immediately. Otherwise, I am just completely tired of speculating about the underlying causes of what may be racism, sexism, and homophobia. It's like part communist show trial and part liberal cultural sensitivity counseling group or something. (If whoever is reading this is wondering whether or not I am a white, heterosexual man of privileged background, speculate away! As the author says, "whatever.")

The practical suggestions are great and would actually be effective in getting persons of color from working class background (like me maybe) out to gatherings. More ef! organizing and activism around big infrastructure projects and environmental racism would also be great.

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