Racial Justice and Equity

Our commitment to protecting public health by safeguarding clean air and water and expanding access to parks and open spaces for all New Jerseyans is tied to a just and equitable democracy.

Yet, communities of color not only bear the disproportionate burdens of pollution and climate change, but also face the daily threat of unjust harassment, violence, and institutional racism.

We stand among those calling for justice, accountability, and an end to racial violence. We know that communities of color, Indigenous people, immigrants, and working-class communities have been leading the call for a healthier environment and demanding clean air and clean water. As a white-led organization that benefits from a system of white supremacy, we have an obligation to use our resources to amplify and support their work.

The environmental advocacy community historically has been predominantly white-led and has served the concerns and needs of white communities. This must change! We ask that those working on environmental issues serving people across the state in amplifying the voices and power of historically disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately impacted by air and water pollution and other environmental hazards, and ensuring that these communities are at the head of the decision-making table.

We also MUST put people over polluters, and that means acknowledging that the environment cannot be separated from a complex, intersectional racist system. Polluters and fossil fuel companies that have profited enormously from damaging our environment and have helped create a system of environmental racism and colonialism by locating polluting facilities predominantly in communities of color.

The environmental movement has ignored these facts for far too long, and if we continue to ignore them, there will never be a chance for equity. Putting people first also actively dismantling the racist structures that are tearing apart our climate and communities and biosphere, and working with communities that are fighting police brutality, white supremacy, and racial violence.

Vision Statement for Racial Justice and Equity at New Jersey LCV

Our mission is to help establish a just, inclusive, and equitable environmental future for New Jersey. We do so by working with, learning from, and supporting overburdened, predominantly Black and Brown, and low-income communities in order to educate the public, co-create social change, and advocate for policy outcomes that rectify environmental injustices.

Goals:

Create an inclusive workplace where New Jersey LCV staff, board members, and endorsees reflect the racial and gender diversity of the state.
Ensure our public communications reach communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution and the climate crisis by transcending structural barriers and elevating and amplifying communities that are predominantly Black, Indigenous and people of color.
Leverage our power, resources, and existing relationships to form new partnerships in communities of color and to advocate, at their request, for their priorities in order to achieve mutual goals.
Continue to learn as an organization as we pursue this work.

Definitions

Diversity at New Jersey LCV represents a broad range of identities, experiences, and perspectives, mirroring New Jersey’s demographic diversity. This includes aspects like race, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, and more. We appreciate that individual identities cannot be siloed; the challenges we face stem from more than one perspective. Our approach encourages people to be fully themselves.

Equity at New Jersey LCV is about ensuring fairness and impartiality, actively addressing the unique needs of New Jersey’s diverse communities. It involves dismantling barriers that lead to unequal treatment and designing our practices to provide equal opportunities and outcomes. Our focus is on empowering those with the least power and providing support in line with the specific disparities faced by different communities. Working toward equity ensures that groups that have been systematically disadvantaged are prioritized, and this work is never finished.

Inclusion at New Jersey LCV means actively creating spaces where diverse perspectives and identities are essential to our decision-making and operations. We focus on authentic engagement with a wide range of groups, addressing power imbalances, and ensuring everyone can be their true selves. We acknowledge unequal power in relationships, and make appropriate accommodations for people to meaningfully participate. Our aim is not just to hear diverse voices but to integrate these insights into our organizational fabric, ensuring balanced participation from New Jersey’s varied communities in all aspects of our work.

Justice at New Jersey LCV involves addressing and rectifying environmental harms in disenfranchised communities, and ensuring equitable access to a clean, healthy environment for all. This means actively combating environmental inequities, working to invest in areas that have not been preserved and protected, and ensuring fair distribution of environmental benefits across New Jersey’s diverse population.

Environmental justice is a global issue with local impact. It is the right for all people to live, work and play in a safe and healthy environment that includes access to clean air, clean water, and green space. Those who are most impacted by injustice should have meaningful involvement in identifying and implementing solutions. Meaningful involvement requires effective access to decision makers for all, and the ability in all communities to make informed decisions and take positive actions to produce environmental justice for themselves.

Racial Justice and Equity Resources

Here are some of the materials we’ve found useful so far. Check back for more resources, as we’ll keep updating this list as we go along! For a full resource list, visit https://www.njlcv.org/resource-hub

Webinars

Websites

Books on Racial Justice

A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and its Assault on the American Mind, Harriet A. Washington
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, Carol Anderson
The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
The Half Has Never Been Told, Edward E. Baptist
Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, Michael Bennett
Give Us the Ballot, Ari Berman
Slavery By Another Name, Douglas A. Blackmon
The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Black Skin, White Masks, Franz Fanon
Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
The Ways of White Folks, Langston Hughes
White Trash, Nancy Isenberg
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Ibram X. Kendi
How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi
Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
Becoming, Michelle Obama
So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
An African American and Latinx History of the United States, Paul Ortiz
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Richard Rodriguez
How Race Survived US History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon, David Roediger
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Bryan Stevenson
The Rise of the American Conservation Movement, Dorceta Taylor
Narrative of Sojourner Truth, Sojourner Truth
The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
Fences, August Wilson
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, Tim Wise
The Mis-Education of the Negro, Carter Woodson
Native Son, Richard Wright
Voices of a People’s History of the United States (and the original, A People’s History), Howard Zinn
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson