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Beyond Equity, Justice and Civil Rights

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated annually on January 15th. The Drum Major for Justice and Noble Peace Prize winner is honorably recognized for committing his life for humanitarian cause. The term civil rights is often used to identify his lane of legacy, aligned with the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and in his time, the Civil Rights Act of 1964; sweeping legislation that attempted to enact American justice. Change happened. Society envelopes hope in the ideals of democratic (executive, legislative and judicial) process. Forward direction of the people counted most then, and now.

In 2023 we were involved in local processes to protect the civil rights legacy of Hickory Hill School; a stellar example of legacy and forward direction. Hickory Hill School was part of the sweep of empowered communities that made a difference for themselves and others. The school was likely founded within a bush harbor church before a school house teacher was hired in 1850. In 1915, self determined African American families donated land to erect the first official elementary school in the county; later to become a high school as Virginia State University’s County Training School for Negroes moved to Hickory Hill in 1924. In the era of segregation, teachers from Hickory Hill School won a nationally recognized civil rights case to equalize principal and teacher salaries in the U.S. Court of Appeals. For over 100 years, Hickory Hill’s legacy portrayed self reliance and fortitude when democratic process stalled.

Legacy is a sustainability value that fueled Southside residents when local officials not respecting boundaries advocated to sight a fire burn facility on the 7 acres site of the former Hickory Hill School; presently operating as a community center (media below). Residents and land owners of the fenceline community opposed the action and fought to protect our very precious greenspace from industrial infringement. The burn facility was halted, though zoning changes remains concerning. On a positive note, Hickory Hill School received historic designation. We, in fellowship with the Southside Joint Civic Association and residents of Richmond, VA at large are reminded that equity, justice, civil rights and human rights are a continual flex. So, take lessons from the past and remember to stand … self determined, self reliant and with fortitude in the face of adversity.

RICHMOND FREE PRESS

https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2023/mar/30/hickory-hill-community-opposes-planned-fire-traini/

https://richmondfreepress.com/news/2023/aug/03/city-reverses-course-hickory-hill/

WRIC NEWS

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/supporters-resisters-sound-off-on-proposed-richmond-fire-training-center/

VIRGINIA MERCURY

Out with the green, in with the heat


City Hall Rally

RICHMOND TIMES

https://richmond.com/opinion/column/williams-a-burn-tower-at-a-community-center-make-it-make-sense-richmond/article_3ba908d6-2d47-11ee-aebf-eb404ccd4d4d.html

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Space for Peace

Violence is now the leading cause of death among youth. Many were positively sure that the skyrocketing rate of violence was due to the degrading effect of music and gaming on impressionable minds; gang culture; fatherless homes; poverty; mental illness and/or generational trauma. Millions of dollars have been allocated to research institutions and think tanks to investigate causal relationships and remedies to violence. “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop the Violence” are familiar slogans to elevate expectations and hope that the self-inflicted violence of the Black social scene goes away and that the police exercise humane practice in the street and neighborhoods. In fact, as I am reminded by a Sudanese soldier, hopelessness kills. So, where and how does hope grow?

The correlation between property and violence is generally acknowledged in the notion that rural areas are safer than cities. Many families send their children to “the country,” off to summer camp or community centers to help fashion improved outlooks and behaviors because it works. Studies confirm that greater access to greenspace equates to better personal health, community safety and national growth. Recent trends of urban exodus for land possession in rural areas highlight the dissatisfaction of local housing policies and city services to address family centric concerns.

A recent study by Virginia State University in Richmond, Virginia correlates the connection between violence and delinquent property taxes. “Violence events tend to cluster together geospatially” it informs.  Residential instability, including delinquent property taxes and the loss of one’s home was determined to be in large measure the cause of violence in communities – linked to greater neighborhood disorganization, distress and deterioration. Recently, Richmond City Council wrestled with whether to reduce property taxes to alleviate the well documented burdens of owning a home in Richmond. In addition to having the second highest rate of eviction in the United States, Richmond’s property assessments increased by an average of 13% citywide last year.  Programs such as PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) and LOOP (long-term owner occupancy program) are presently being considered. Southside Richmond has already experienced the devastating phenomenon of homeowner displacement; and the statistics of violence continue to grow.

Renters are also experiencing the devastation – now understanding the ramifications of a well-intentioned but ultimately miscommunicated eviction support program that now has thousands of people in court and crossing over to not having shelter. The priority remedy for city officials is to build “affordable homes,” apparently at the expense of open spaces that vulnerable communities desperately need. Square foot by square foot, acre by acre, historically disenfranchised communities experience the withdrawal of meaningful community engagement, services and access to community facilities and land. Places to play, places to meet for creative solutions, and spaces to socialize or just breath are all central to a healthy human existence. If we want to eliminate space for violence, then we must increase spaces and activities for peace.

The formula to design and support spaces for peace must also encourage authentic communication and incorporate sustainability values such as legacy. It is the social responsibility for everyone to support the inclusion and growth of happy people and environments, and in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to let justice flow like a mighty river for successful initiatives. Without environmental and property priorities, peace will be elusive. Land is health and wealth. 

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Virginia Environmental Justice Map

The Renewal of Life Trust is pleased to partner with the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative, Mapping for Environmental Justice and GIS Corp to launch the Virginia Environmental Justice Map. The map was created to inform about the cumulative impacts of environmental injustice in Virginia and strengthen networks of advocacy for the prioritization of resources to affected communities. Data is essential to identify pollution, but the human chronicle of environmental injustice affords great opportunity towards remedy. As Lakeisha Wright points out “Community should inform data and not the other way around.” Connect with us to tell your story.

Click here to begin exploration of demographic and environmental layers.

“Environmental justice is Civil Rights in the 21st century” – Quentin Pair

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Tomorrow

Conversations about wealth in America center around land, labor and accessibility to these resources. Land is the foundation of health, wealth and democracy. The rejuvenation of social order will largely rest on clean air and water, land access for food and housing … in that order. Commonplace however, are statistics about farmers (particularly African Americans) and other landowners cheated out of their livelihood by zoning and land use ordinances. Real estate and industrial conglomerates devour land parcels in unprecedented ways, using outright theft at times. In many instances heirs compromise homestead stability because money is valued over legacy. Reports highlight a nearly 98% decline in property ownership of African Americans into the 21st century. Ownership decline and other real challenges to wealth accumulation underpin poor health, poverty and racism.

Global summits and local meetings too often demonstrate the minimization of humanitarian interests when it comes to corporate affairs. After much talk and seeing little action, change makers are forced to strategies countering menacing maneuvers for land. Into the 21st century, African American and First Nation communities in America organized independent communities to prioritize land access interests. Presently, there is significant interest to enhance the ledger of land possession and generational retention. Here are three important focus areas to protect the abundance offerings of land:

  1. Plan Ahead

Climate change and the threat of displacement requires urgent action. Climate change is not a new phenomenon; marked in stretches of the earth that were once lush but now desert such as Africa’s Sahara region. However, as climate experts predict, flooding, tornadoes, sea level rise and other historic disasters show the wrath of nature. Economic and health challenges ensue from these, including the scourges of disaster capitalism contributing to land loss when families are ultimately unable to protect property interests. A divided family with real estate holdings can create challenges to the protection of property and legacy, especially when disasters hit. Heirs’ property is particularly noted as problematic when disasters hit because of divided holdings in real estate. Mediation services may help families come to amicable terms, and insurance helps, but more essential are harmonious family relations where property priorities are understood; and estate documents are in order and secure. If family land is used for agricultural purpose, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Heirs’ Property Relending Program helps with capital to resolve land ownership and succession issues. Family unity and emergency preparation are the best ways to weather any storm.

2. Monitor Local Development Plans

Overzealous development and the extraction of natural resources, industrial contamination or ecology destruction by mining, power plants, pipelines, petro/chemical production and land-fills cause soil degradation and threaten waterways. Sacrifice Zones was a term used during the Cold War to describe highly contaminated uranium mining sites assigned to nuclear purposes. Today, the term denotes industrial sprawl that contaminates neighborhoods and communities, significantly impacting land value and health. More industry means less agriculture and opportunities for community and/or family land possession. Property values may even rise as result of gentrification projects, some purported to enhance greenhouse gas efficiency and reduce emissions, though cancer, asthma, coronavirus, kidney disease, and other ailments are increasingly attributed to pollution. Land deals often occur in municipal settings with lighting speed; often before communities are able to fully come to terms with or do in-depth research and discovery. Land protection strategies must include timely civic engagement; and strengthening networks with like-minded people.

3. Grow Family Wealth

The coronavirus has proven to be more than just a health challenge with its massive dent to the economy and family livelihoods. Clean air, clean water and the ability to care for land are traditionally the parent of hope. Health is after all the truest wealth. Community resiliency is tied to our physical state, and the physical world / land is a key driver of economics. Beyond helping us feel better, there are plentiful opportunities to generate financial wealth with access to land and managing resources, including farming, forestry, managing rental properties, solar farms, commercial leasing, agritourism or managing a recreational site for example. Sustainability is the consideration and practice of balance between the generational extraction of resources and retaining a healthy bio-sphere; which is a lifestyle that we should all consider.

∞

Climate change, industrial infringement and self-preservation requires our immediate and conscious attention. Perhaps the greatest challenge to national and community health and wealth is the lens of scarcity that are standardized in theories of economy. Scarcity drives the hoarding of natural resources, monetary and material possessions, and widens gaps between” disenfranchised” communities and the “domineering” players of capitalism. Society has moved from an agrarian or land focused society to a consumer society; significantly bearing on overall social wellness. An abundance framework brings the realization that land is the highest call for justice and a sacred responsibility. Therefore, we should acknowledge, make space for and protect nature’s rights and abundance.    

Thank you for continued support of the Renewal of Life Land Trust. We are appreciative of the positive energy and support of friends and members in land stewardship, and look forward to expanding education, mediation and land retention in the new year.  Please consider a contribution or investment to our mission.

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Beyond Trauma

It sometimes feels like health and wealth are being threatened by forces out of our control. Repeat news cycles of eviction, poverty, climate crisis and wayward militia can dominate the mind, evident as we endure the George Floyd trial. Links between disease and the environment become more obvious as our collective immune system is attacked just by observation of the viciousness that is sometimes represented as normalcy.

Fortunately, there is a force (not necessarily the police force) that we do have control of. It is the life force; an energy that avails anybody aware it. The energy that fuels hope and opportunities for self-sufficiency. It is often referred to as ancient wisdom and we can draw on it to usher change. Change is not always found delivering fiery podium messages or seeking a ballot box vote. Change may not come in the form of media stories that hype trends. Change is the direction that singularly and then collectively each one of us walks and talks. Each of us, in the form of individual choices, strengthen or weaken collective goals and direction. “People over Profit” is a direction that simplifies the vision of environmental stewardship, and this can be viewed as optional for life, but with dire consequence.

Our visions for a just world can and must expand beyond a trauma response and what is perceived as doable. Social and political boundaries can be redefined for the protection and preservation of important assets, and for self interest. A poverty mindset lacks control of their environment. Time moves on, and this season of water and winds ushers another chance for our enhanced health and wealth. We are granted permissions to take and give as Mother Earth opens to us each year. One of the most important renewal energy sources to humanity is humanity and obedience to natural law.

riverside

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The Growth of Environmentalism

Environmentalism as a social movement facilitates concern and action typically centering on the protection of biodiversity, climate change and/or the reduction of carbon emissions. Unfortunately, environmentalism has sometimes proven to be detrimental to people who have had longstanding relationship with the earth and are documented caretakers. According to National Geographic, the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples only manage or hold tenure of over 25 percent of the world’s land surface and support about 80 percent of the global biodiversity. Not only are resources scarcely afforded to the indigenous, the indigenous are often made more vulnerable by environmentalist ideology. Global examples in the resource rich region of Africa point to the Maasai in Tanzania being evicted from traditional territories in the name of ecotourism; the Sengwr and Ogiek peoples in Kenya displaced for conservation purposes; the Gibe III dam in Ethiopia’s Omo River forced the people from their ancestral lands. America’s green movement has made significant strides but also presents communities made more vulnerable by environmental idealism, as funds and energy are allocated to green spaces or even as industrial pollution is not mitigated.  In one case, rather than clean up a brownfield of high lead content, an entire community was relocated, destroying the important social fabric that existed. Thus, rural and urban communities may experience anxiety and even displacement by environmentalist “commitment” to public welfare.

Conservation, once a term reserved for the preservation and efficient use of natural resources, applies now to affordable housing and built environment schemes in urban areas. Eco-gentrification (greening neighborhoods) changes the socio-economic character of community; often attracting wealthier residents to neighborhoods previously challenged by underdevelopment or pollution and increasing land value, sometimes forcing former residents to leave. In conversations about climate change, burdens associated with greenhouse emissions, carbon reduction and climate refuges are situated in the context of historically disenfranchised or vulnerable communities, but with limited resources to confront the industries that most pollute.

Environmentalism has expanded beyond the singular concern of protecting the environment, and approaches are multifaceted. Clearly, it is understood that large scale industrial presence(s) situated most often within vulnerable communities contribute to a variety of pollutants, climate change and the need for environmental preservation. Therefore, initiatives and funding for clean energy should not only engage vulnerable communities but prioritize environmental justice and energy efficiency within vulnerable communities. As protocols exist, funding for energy efficiency is largely directed to industry, leaving traditionally disenfranchised communities to continue to engage in protracted battles for economic viability and growth.

A strategy forward is to broaden the vision for green equity in underserved communities by strengthening community administration of environmental education. “People don’t fight for the rights they don’t know they have” says Luisa Neubauer. This approach helps to expand environmental advocacy and prioritizes the areas that cause environmental imbalance within communities. The growth of environmentalism in the short and long term should focus not only on building a more sustainable and resilient natural environment, but also social and economic resiliency that are essential for life.

The Renewal of Life Trust continues in advocacy and education approaches to encourage and broaden the application of indigenous approaches to land stewardship.

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It’s In Our Hands

2020 will be memorable as a year of uncertainty and of course the pandemic. Plans laid for the year were largely abandoned and the world changed it seemed overnight. Even Sunday church services were cancelled, but there was an anointing of time… an experience of renewed awareness and vision. The instinct to grow food was apparent as seeds and gardening supplies sold out. Concerns about food security and the value of land were heightened, as well as health as a priority consideration.

While governments warned of sickness and disease, communities focused on wellness and vitality. Health is often described as determined by social, economic and environmental conditions, subscribing it to something or someone from the outside. Conversations now turned to health as something created within. In addition to families getting back to the land and gardening, old home remedies and family solutions were prioritized for well-being. Acknowledgements for cultural and spiritual inheritance were elevated, especially caring for the land as a way to protect the natural gifts that make us, our families, and society better. This is empowerment.

After 33 years, our mission for land stewardship remains as relevant as ever. We are awakening to a new social reality, but land was and continues to be the way toward liberation, the way toward rebirth. Land stewardship is taking on the front or backyard patch of land, nearby park space or the industrial polluter that butts the neighborhood or district. Land stewardship is preserving farms, sacred spaces and abandoned places to ensure healthy biodiversity today and for future generations. Land stewardship is a hand for land access and agency to conserve spaces for health and vitality. It’s for the Renewal of Life. It’s in our hands.