by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)

Black Americans suffer disproportionately from environmental degradation. Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper reports:

“Drinking water systems in communities of color are 40% more likely to be in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Black Americans breathe in 38% more airborne contaminants than White Americans … and are  three times more likely to die from pollution-related disease compared to White Americans.”

One of the positive developments in the recent push for more inclusiveness has been environmental groups’ recognition of their need to diversify. Nonprofit boards, volunteer bases, and staff are better off with the perspectives of people who most suffer from the community’s environmental issues.

Margie Eugene-Richard, the first African-American winner of the Goldman Prize, traces her determination to improve the environment to 1973, when a Shell pipeline exploded in her neighborhood. It killed an elderly woman and a teenage boy.

In 1988, another major industrial accident in Eugene-Richard’s neighborhood of Norco killed seven workers and released 159 million pounds of toxins into the air. Norco, sandwiched between a chemical plant and an oil refinery, has primarily Black residents. Many generations of families including her own have lived there since the days of slavery.

Nevertheless, those who could afford to left as it came to be known as “cancer alley.”

Eugene-Richard was a middle school teacher at the time of the toxin release. Inspired by the activism of local educator Mary McLeod Bethune, Eugene-Richards was moved to found Concerned Citizens of Norco in 1989. She sought fair and just resettlement costs for her family and her neighbors from Shell.

Her activism transformed her own neighborhood and created nonprofits whose work has spread around the world.

The effort took 13 years of community organizing, scientific data collection, and media savvy. Along the way, she facilitated researchers and environmentalists publishing a report showing that Shell’s Norco releases amounted to 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals per year.

The resulting class action lawsuit ultimately was unsuccessful, but in 2000 Shell finally agreed to terms. They offered to pay relocation costs for residents who lived on the two streets closest to the plant. Eugene-Richard and Concerned Citizens persevered until they secured $5 million community development fund and full relocation for all four affected streets.

Her story shows what can be accomplished when an environmental problem is understood and tackled from within. “There were times I thought it was an impossible task,” Eugene-Richard recalled. “I remember standing in my yard thinking, ‘Lord, will there ever be hope?’ But a little voice within me kept saying, ‘If we don’t tell them, how will they know?’ ”

Eugene-Richard’s Goldman Award represents not only the years-long Louisiana effort, but subsequent activities on a national scale. She helped found a national activist group called the National Black Environmental Justice Network. In Washington, D.C., she spoke before Congress; in Geneva she testified before the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

The World Conference Against Racism and the World Summit on Sustainable Development welcomed her speeches in South Africa.

Seventy-one percent of African-Americans live in counties not meeting federal air pollution standards. One worthwhile way to show that Black Lives Matter would be to work toward reducing that number to zero.

Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist

Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.More by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist