NEW: Communities of color are disparately impacted by environmental & climate issues. But philanthropic funding rarely goes toward environmental & climate justice groups led by Black, Indigenous & other POC.
Stunning: A 2020 study by the Tishman Environment & Design Center at The New School found between 2016 & 2017, 12 national enviro grant makers awarded $1.34B to orgs in the Gulf and Midwest regions.
Just $18M — 1.3% — was awarded to groups dedicated to environmental justice.
The Donors of Color Network launched a Climate Funders Justice Pledge Thurs, challenging the nation’s climate philanthropists to shift 30% of their donations toward environmental efforts led by Black/Indigenous/POC. The Kresge Foundation & five other top funders have committed.
@ProfAnaBaptista , who led the Tishman study, said foundations gave several reasons as to why they weren't funding POC-led orgs. But some openly acknowledged longstanding legacy of structural racism & bias within the philanthropy sector as a dominant factor.
Detroit resident Emma Lockridge's family lived in Detroit's 48217 ZIP code - one of the most polluted areas in Michigan - for decades against the backdrop of heavy industrial sites. She has cancer.
Her brother, sister, mother & father all died from cancers or disease.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Bittersweet came to mind, as did frustrated when she learned charges were forthcoming in the Flint water crisis.
And repairing the physical & emotional scars of Flint residents could take years.apnews.com/article/flint-…
You may remember Ariana Hawk's story. Her son, Sincere Smith, was two when his picture, captured by the talented @reginahboone, made the cover of Time magazine in 2016. Sincere suffered painful, severe rashes & dry patches because of Flint's water --A trauma impossible to forget.
I spoke to Hawk after the @AP broke the news. She's hopeful but said justice delayed is justice denied. Sincere is 7 now. He remains skeptical of all tap water.
The family went to FL recently. The children asked if the water was safe to drink.
NEW: Black policy leaders will play a pivotal role in President-elect @JoeBiden's transition, marking one of the most diverse agency review teams in history. My latest for @AP: apnews.com/article/joe-bi…
Of the 500+ team members announced, more than half are women -- & Black men & women are leading more than one-quarter of the teams.
Diversity is significant: The teams will be responsible for evaluating the operations of federal agencies that have a broad impact on Americans’.
More on why it matters: Biden will take office at a time when the nation is confronting a historic pandemic, joblessness & police brutality -- crises that have disparately impacted Black Americans.
Black voters powered his victory. They want action now.
Michigan AG Dana Nessel has filed felony charges against two well-known out-of-state Republican operatives for allegedly orchestrating robocalls aimed at suppressing the vote in the Detroit area. detroitnews.com/story/news/pol…
From the story: The calls were made in late Aug to nearly 12K residents with phone numbers from the 313 area code. They stem from a false robocall that discouraged mail-in voting by saying their personal info would be part of a public database used by police if they vote by mail.
Why is this significant? Detroit is the nation's largest Black-majority city, it will play a major role in deciding which way Michigan goes in Nov. & in turn, a role in the overall outcome of the election. Suppression tactics like this could impact turnout.
Sen. @KamalaHarris stops in Flint at Magnificlips- a local downtown barber shop owned by Earl Jones and Tim Tyler. Due to the pandemic, their business was forced to shut down for a period of time one week after opening.
Harris was greeted by Senator Debbie Stabenow, who is wearing a black Biden/Harris face mask. Hard to hear but Harris talked to them about the challenges minority businesses owners face.
Sen. Kamala Harris taking a photo with a local business owner and her daughter. (Sen. Stabenow snapped the photo)
I think often of how reporters are told to work their way up in newsrooms by starting out on a night cops shift/covering police. Breaking news is seen as an entry level, easy to do gig. But it's not. Nor is it a throwaway beat, it's an integral part of community coverage.
Why do many newsrooms treat it as if it doesn't require a certain level of expertise? Expertise that really is required on all fronts: Not just in learning how to cover a police department but more specifically the community that the police department is supposed to serve.
It's ingrained in reporters to develop police sourcing. Makes sense to a degree. But what if we spent as much effort developing sourcing within the community, too? Police coverage isn't just covering the institution itself but rather its interactions with the community.