Race/Racism
Speaking Up and Acting Out: Black Activism Is Creating Change
From stopping an oil pipeline to getting reparations, protesting anti-Black injustice is getting results
This news roundup usually points out and discusses stories about anti-Black racism, and though I try to include at least one feel-good item every week, it’s generally a necessarily sobering read. But this week, I can start off with some good news, for a change? We’ve got several stories about how protesting anti-Black injustice is getting results, from stopping an oil pipeline to getting reparations (of a kind) for a Georgia neighborhood erased by urban renewal.
Activism works
Plans to build an oil pipeline that would have run under several predominantly Black Memphis neighborhoods have been canceled after strong opposition from environmental and community activists. Critics of the project feared that a leak or spill could contaminate groundwater, as well as nearby wetlands and waterways. “Opponents said the plans reminded them of environmental racism — the practice of placing toxic factories, landfills and other polluters in minority neighborhoods and indigenous areas, where voiceless residents only realize the danger after people get sick,” Adrian Sainz wrote for…
