Fighting for the Freedom to Breathe

While civil rights leaders in the 1960s were advocating for changes in their communities, they were also raising awareness for environmental and public health concerns that disproportionately impacted them.

“The civil rights movement paved the way for the environmental movement.”

The civil rights movement paved the way for the environmental movement, and in 1968, Black sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike to protest low pay and dangerous working conditions. The night before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told the group of strikers, “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.”

Those last few public words from MLK send chills down my spine and make me pause; just as civil rights activists were beginning to speak up against environmental injustices, a beloved leader was lost. As many activists were grieving, white environmentalists adopted tactics used by civil rights activists (sit-ins and school strikes) to spread awareness about pollution, toxic waste, and conservation. The next major Black-led environmental justice protest—The Warren County Landfill Sit-In—didn’t happen until 1982, and by that time, the movement had started to fade with the passage of The Clean Water Act, The Clean Air Act, and the creation of The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

“What’s often left out of environmental history is how people of color influenced change.”

What’s often left out of environmental history is how people of color influenced change. It isn’t pure chance that the civil rights movement and the environmental movement of the ’60s and ’70s happened side by side, just like today’s youth climate strikes and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in 2020. In many ways, both groups were and continue to fight against a system of power that mistreats people and the planet. But when three out of five African Americans live in neighborhoods near toxic waste sites and African American children are poisoned by lead at almost five times the rate of white children—it’s clear there is overlap in the root cause. The disrespect of both people and the planet exposes a broader issue within society, to not value the resources and people that are deemed “voiceless.”

“We can remedy the missed opportunity to of the ‘60s by taking action now and uniting as one.”

There’s a lot that can be learned from these historical movements. And this time around, environmentalists can do things differently and mobilize to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Globally, 200 million people participated in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and six million people participated in climate strikes in September 2019. This enormous gathering power could be an even larger force if environmentalists joined social justice movements as well. 

It is difficult to separate the movements, especially when both are advocating for the right to breathe and thrive, and the ability to do so without unjust violence. But by mobilizing alongside the Black Lives Matter movement, the environmental community can help amplify the unheard voices of those facing the harshest impacts of the climate crisis, as well as police brutality. Our goals of justice are the same and they are interconnected: everyone wants the freedom to breathe. We can remedy the missed opportunity to of the ’60s by taking action now and uniting as one. 

“Can environmentalism be truly effective if it continues to ignore those that are most vulnerable in our ecosystem and society?”

Environmentalists are familiar with discussing endangered species and conservation, but less familiar with advocating for black and brown lives; however, we can change this. We can become intersectional environmentalists by understanding the ways these issues are linked. Regardless of how disconnected from nature we’ve grown, we aren’t separate from it. And I question whether environmentalism can be truly effective if it continues to ignore those that are most vulnerable in our ecosystem and society.

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Leah Thomas is an intersectional environmental activist and eco-communicator. She launched the intersectional environmentalist platform to explore the relationship between environmentalism and cultural identity. You can connect with her on Instagram.