Learning and growing: Solidarity with #blacklivesmatter - we hear you.
We started our learning journey on minority representation when we released our awareness raising film last year and someone rightly spoke up about the lack of diversity. Upon releasing the film we recognised it almost immediately and nervously waited for someone to point it out and they did. YES it was a total oversight - we are a tiny team, with minimal resources which means details get missed and we failed to represent the diversity in our community. We see people not colour and we are proud of being an inclusive organisation; we knew we had some work to do but we didn’t understand how much until recently.
We now understand that it isn’t enough to reject racism, we have to be actively ‘anti-racist’ and get to grips with truly understanding the historical white privilege ingrained in our society and how we can utilise that to actively become allies for those that are under represented. We are absolutely committed to trying harder, shouting louder and standing by those that need our voice.
This movement has highlighted the severe inequalities that persist in different forms throughout all of our communities; the relation it has to those that suffer from environmental degradation and those that have the privilege to fight against it. It is often the poorer communities around the world that suffer the most from environmental disasters and it is also those that get to experience the wonders of the natural world the least.
Leah Thomas, activist and eco-communicator, refers to environmentalism that advocates for both the protection of people and the planet as ‘intersectional environmentalism’. She associates the systems of oppression that have led to the deaths of so many Black people to the same systems that perpetuated environmental injustice. Racial/social justice and environmental justice are explicitly intertwined.
We DO NOT all have equal access to the very thing that gives many of us the most joy. Access to the coast, clean fresh air and open green space is a privilege. Those that can afford to or are lucky enough to find a cheap rental property get to be close and others can afford to visit. These people get more opportunities to connect with the very thing that supports life on earth which we hope will lead them to become advocates for the natural world. But what about those that don't? It is no wonder that the ones who feel less connected to the environment and ocean are the ones that don't have the regular opportunity to enjoy it… Sir David Attenborough states ‘’No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced”. If we want more people to engage with environmental issues, we need more people to have access to it and this is where we need to work harder.
So how are we going to play our part……...due to Covid-19 our tiny charity which consists of 2 part time employees is having to temporarily down scale its activities. However once we are through the Covid fog we are aiming to actively seek to connect with minority groups and organisations/charities in deprived areas within North Devon in order to recruit volunteers and run projects to ensure that we are working as an anti-racist charity.
There are so many resources that everyone can use to educate themselves on the #blacklivesmatter movement. You can start by looking at this Padlet list of resources curated by Babbasa to help us learn and build a just, equitable and inclusive society. We can all take action on racism and discrimination against people of colour.