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In the United States there is a distinct lack of minority people in environmental organizations. The reasons for this are many. I will try to address them individually, not necessarily in their order of importance.
First, the segregation of blacks and whites in the past created a barrier that has still not been dissolved. Blacks were allocated only certain places where they could eat, live, work, and even socialize. The times were especially tense in the 1950s and 1960s when blacks began to protest these injustices. Blacks were not allowed to use the same form of transport as whites, they could not frequent the same nightclubs or restaurants, and they were actually banned from public areas such as parks. Given these conditions, is it any wonder that they did not become involved in environmental issues when they began to come to the forefront of politics? It was simply another whites-only club to which they did not feel welcome.
Another problem with minority participation is that quite often these individuals are poor. Poverty affects minorities in a much greater percentage than it does the white citizens of the country. The reasons for this are complex, and I will not go into them here. However, because of this money shortage, minorities often have a difficult time simply surviving. It is unrealistic for anyone to expect them to be involved in causes or donate any money to efforts to preserve the environment when their major priority is to make it from one day to the next.
Often when people are poor, they also view environmental efforts as a threat. For groups which are so dependent on that next paycheck, anything which poses an obstacle for businesses is frightening. For instance, in the northwest U. S. when the logging industries were engaged in the bitter battle with environmentalists over timber use, many jobs were at stake. People who are close to the poverty level have no desire to endanger their livelihood for the sake of some unknown species of animal.
This leads to another stumbling block. Because blacks were excluded from natural parks in the past, they had less opportunity to interact with nature unless someone in their family owned a farm. This lack of access to these natural wonders kept many of them from developing a relationship with and therefore a concern for our natural resources and wildlife. Without concern for a cause, it is impossible to be interested in it.
Initially when environmental organizations began, membership was often based on social standing. Only the elite of the country were members, thus effectively excluding most lower income Americans, including minorities. This further form of segregation has led to resentment by many minorities and a fierce contempt for the organizations which should be representing all of all the citizens.
Another example is the American Indians, who lived here before any of us ever knew the continent existed. Yet, when we arrived, we deprived them of much of their land for our own uses. This even extended to our national parks. Once this program went into effect, land which had once been used by the Indians was placed off limits to them. How can we rationally expect them to become part of an environmental organization run exclusively by the race which expelled them from their land in the first place?
This is not to say that there are not active minority environmentalists. Rather, the point is that they have not been part of the large group efforts to protect the environment. Oftentimes many minority individuals have made great efforts to effect change in the environmental arena. Yet, if they are not affiliated with a well-known organization, their efforts may go unreported. The media may assume that there will not be enough interest in the story to air it for their viewers.
This division between races
in the environmental movement is one of the major problems which must be
overcome if we are to be successful in our efforts to preserve our resources
for the future. To ignore such a huge obstacle would be to invite
defeat.
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