One world, one movement: Remarks by Jacqueline Patterson in a tribute to Wangari Maathai

GDRA member Jacqui Patterson kindly shares remarks made at a tribute to Wangari Maathai

Good Evening. On behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, we thank the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and most especially Mithika Mwenda and Augustine Njamnishi for the honor of inviting us to participate in this tribute. The NAACP was founded in 1909 out of the struggle for equal rights of black people in the US, who were transported in the hulls of ships from here, the continent of Africa, to North America. We therefore share and embrace a common ancestry. 

It is my great honor to stand arm in arm with my sisters and brothers here to pay homage to a Sister Wangari Maathai whose legacy embodies the struggle for earth rights and for human rights for all.

When I hear the stories and see the pictures of the anti-apartheid movement I see parallels with our ongoing struggles for dignity and equal rights as African Americans. When I see the ongoing housing segregation here and the continued struggle for economic rights, I see a parallel struggle to what we are experiencing in the US. When I hear of coastal erosion and displaced communities in Cameroon and Benin, I think of Inuit communities and African American communities in Alaska and Louisiana respectively. When I hear of the deadly storm that took lives and destroyed homes, primarily of black people in Durban last week or the flooding last year in Madagascar, I think of the lost lives and homes of black people in Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. When I think of oil soaked coasts in Nigeria, I think of oil soaked fields in the bayous of Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida after the BP Oil Drilling Disaster. When I think of the extractive practices of mining for profit at the expense of people from the Congo to Swaziland, I think of our indigenous brothers and sisters in New Mexico and Nevada whose lands are desecrated and whose environment is being contaminated with no regard for their wellbeing.

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Call for Papers:

Session Title: Disaster Vulnerability: New Research on Intersectionality
Session Type: Formal Paper
Session Organizer: Adelle Monteblanco (adelle.monteblanco@colorado.edu)
Conference Theme: Intersectionalities and Inequalities: Knowledge and Power for the 21st Century.
PSA Annual Meeting Date and Location: San Diego, March 22-25, 2012
Deadline for submission: October 15
More information can be found at http://www.pacificsoc.org/2006/08/2012-annual-meeting.html

Check out this terrific analysis by Jacqui Patterson, who works on these issues through the NAACP and Women of Color United. Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster: Gendered Layers of Impact was originally posted in On the Issues, Tuesday, 29. March 11

Jennifer Tobin-Gurley is this year's recipient of the GDRA Graduate Student Paper Competition, writing on "Displaced Single Mothers in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

There are many ways to become a part of the GDRA. Take a look at the Volunteer Roles overview and see what's right for you!