Six Months After “Call to Action” to EPA Region 4, EJ Groups Anxiously Wait for Status Report
It has now been six months since the historic November 10, 2010 meeting with Gwen Keyes Fleming, the first African American to head EPA Region 4 (which includes eight southern states, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and 6 Tribal Nations), where more than three dozen environmental justice, civil rights, faith, community based organizations, and leaders from polluted communities delivered their eleven-point Environmental Justice Call to Action for EPA Region 4. The plan demanded fundamental change, a new culture, and a new enforcement framework at EPA—one that actually protects the environment and public health. They also made it clear that major change in the senior level staff was a high priority on their list. Regional administrator Keyes Fleming agreed to report back on the short-term (6 months), midterm (12 months), and long-term (24 months) progress on the “Call to Action.” The leaders anxiously await the first status report.
As We Celebrate July 4, Let's Not Forget 8-Year Eco-Racism Struggle in Dickson, TN
The African American community in Dickson, Tennessee, located about 35 miles west of Nashville, has been used as the dumping ground for garbage and toxic wastes dating back a half century. Dickson County is 4.1 percent black. Five generations of the Harry Holt family have lived on their 150-acre farm located in a Dickson community created by “Jim Crow” segregation. The community dates back to slavery. The deadly chemical trichloroethylene or TCE was discovered in the family’s wells—located just 54 feet from the Dickson County Landfill.
MLK Day 2012: 5 Reasons Dr. King Would Be Fighting Environmental Racism in Tennessee
January 16, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday. Dr. King was called to Memphis in April 1968 on an environmental and economic justice mission on behalf of 1,300 striking garbage workers from AFSCME Local 1733. The Memphis struggle was about much more than a garbage strike. It was also about human dignity and human rights. Memphis was Dr. King's last campaign. However, his legacy lives on in modern day garbage and environmental justice struggles. If Dr. King were alive today there is a good chance the 83-year-old civil rights icon would be standing side-by-side with the African American Harry Holt family in Dickson County, Tennessee, located just 160 miles east of Memphis, whose 150-acre farmland and well were poisoned with the deadly trichloroethylene (TCE) chemical from the leaky Dickson County Landfill, located just 54 feet from the family's property line.
