Can You Breathe Yet?
My co-curator kYmberly recommended I read books by the Black author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates. In a similar way to Deloria Jr., Coates recasts racism as an environmental issue - it is a part of nature.
“Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world. Racism-the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them-inevitably follows from this inalterable condition. In this way, racism is rendered as the innocent daughter of Mother Nature, and one is left to deplore the Middle Passage or the Trail of Tears the way one deplores an earthquake, a tornado, or any other phenomenon that can be cast as beyond the handiwork of men.” [2]
Urban spaces like Philadelphia embody and normalize an environmentally racist mindset.
In Philadelphia we see environmental racism as city blocks with no trees. You can’t drink straight from the rivers. Where are the edible wild plants? What do city zoning laws say about an outdoor vegetable garden? I hear echoes of Black and Indigenous activists in the “unfulfilled expectations” of city planning and failing to protect the natural world (our plants, water sources, shade, natural light).
According to the Philadelphia Water Department, the city will see a “warmer, wetter future with more extreme weather events” in the next hundred years. [4] Philadelphia residents face a reality of microplastics in the water, 35% more days of heat waves above 90 degrees, more frequent and intense floods, hurricanes, and nor’easters. [5]. This is the reality for Black (43% of the population) and Indigenous communities (1.2% of the population) in Philadelphia. [6]
Our bodies retain the grief of losing our environment. Body grief from climate change can look like increased asthma, diabetes, and low tolerance to high temperatures.
- In cities, air quality is affected by cars, building materials, the quantity and quality of plant life, and more. What does it look like if we all can’t breathe the toxic air? How does our day-to-day life change?
- We draw power from the natural world - we get energy from the plants we eat. What if you don’t have access to vegetables? Do you rely on grocery stores for food? Do they sell (good) produce?
- We heal our hurts with songs based on land features, weather patterns, and the elements (I think of “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac). What will our songs sound like when our cities are underwater? When the ocean boils our food before we eat it?
SOURCES
[1] Deloria Jr., Vine. Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. New York: Macmillan, 1969, 2.[2] Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World And Me. New York: One World, 2015, 7.
[3] Deloria Jr., Vine. Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. New York: Macmillan, 1969, 1.
[4] Philadelphia Water Department. “Climate Change Adaptation.” Government Website. Philadelphia Water Department. Accessed August 7, 2023. https://water.phila.gov/sustainability/climate-change/.
[5] Read, Zoe. “Scientists Call for Increased Research on Climate Impacts in Philadelphia.” WHYY. Accessed August 22, 2023. https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-climate-change-future-drexel-university-report/
[6] United States Census Bureau. “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.” Accessed August 23, 2023. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/philadelphiacountypennsylvania/PST045222
[7] https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/11/01/uprooted-the-1950s-plan-to-erase-indian-country#:~:text=In%20the%201950s%2C%20the%20United,Country%20are%20still%20felt%20today
[8] https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/11/01/uprooted-the-1950s-plan-to-erase-indian-country#:~:text=In%20the%201950s%2C%20the%20United,Country%20are%20still%20felt%20today
[9] https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/indian-relocation.html
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American)#:~:text=Between%201910%20and%201930%2C%20the,part%20of%20the%20twentieth%20century