Earlier this year, I saw that a local organization had an all-white climate panel. I had some connections to that organization, so I got the organizer’s info and sent her an email. You will not be surprised to learn that she is a white woman. Here’s what I said:

“I was really shocked and upset to find that all five panelists are white….Where are the Indigenous leaders? The POC climate activists? This really cannot be the face of climate activism in 2020. Not in Berkeley. This is the year we need to fight like hell to engage communities of color in climate activism, electoral politics, and make the Green New Deal a real possibility….There is no question in my mind that this panel needs an Indigenous elder and a POC activist…If there need to be seven people total, that is fine. If some of the white panelists are willing to step down, that is also fine. Or perhaps the panel can be postponed until a diverse set of presenters can be assembled. I am not qualified to be on this particular type of panel, but if you need referrals, I have several. There is no threat or “or else” to this email. We are allies and have real enemies to fight this year & huge campaigns to focus on. There will be no people of color picketing your panel. But there will also probably be very few people of color who attend your panel as it stands. It’s really a painful message to all of us people of color, both in and out of the movement. Your assembled list of experts tells us that people of color have nothing important to say about this. We have nothing to contribute. We don’t count and this is not our issue.

Please reconsider moving forward with this panel as is.”

let me see if I can address your valid concern that the upcoming panel isn’t diverse, either in terms of race or age.  ____________ focuses on the topic of climate restoration, and not the climate movement as a whole.  Climate Restoration is a topic that many climate activists are not familiar with either in terms of the concept, nor in regards to the substantial efforts being made to restore a climate similar to the one in which humans evolved.  Specifically, we wanted to showcase the work of a few of the local organizations which are working on the cutting edge of this ambitious effort to move beyond mitigation of the current crisis to restoration of a healthy, preindustrial climate.  While we certainly would have welcomed African-American or Latino people who are working in this area, we personally knew no one, nor were we referred to anyone from the organizations we approached on this. […] While we cannot change or add to the panel for the Climate Restoration program, I’d be happy to work with you and others on a future panel around the issue of inclusion. In fact, I would like to put you and a friend on the guest list for the climate restoration event because I appreciate the time you’ve taken to express your concern on this important topic.  I’d also like to get your feedback on the event and suggestions on how we might reach a wider audience in the future.

As I refer to the emails to write this, I see that I never sent my reply email. I was so enraged and hurt. Here’s a quote from what I still have in draft form

it really breaks my heart that you think no Indigenous leadership belongs in your ‘climate restoration’ panel. Indigenous people have originated many restoration practices.   I have never felt as doomed as I do reading your response. The racial tone deafness of the climate movement and other liberal establishments will truly be the wasteful force that squanders this opportunity to build an inclusive movement that can win at this critical juncture.”

I will add that right now, in July 2020, Indigenous communities are the force behind recent powerful pipeline victories. Now, more than ever we need to support Indigenous leadership and wisdom. And the success of those movements is in part because they are intersectional, connecting environmental justice with climate action and Indigenous liberation.

1. she wouldn’t change the panel.
2. she was so arrogant that she thought that inviting me for free to an all-white panel that offended me was a peace offering.
3. She wanted to do an inclusion panel to marginalize the conversation about racism in the movement while having the pretense of addressing it. This also reinforces the notion that POC’s only area of expertise is diversity.
4. “We don’t know any POC doing this work” is a pathetic position in 2020.
5. She had the nerve to ask me to give “feedback and suggestions.” I just gave you my feedback and suggestions. Have POC on your panel, and you refuse. If you ignore me now, why would I spend more time engaging with your organization. Bye.

So sometimes racism shows up in POC being excluded or marginalized in the conversation. And other times racism shows up with POC being used to forward white agendas. 2020 has been a tough year for climate justice organizing. Coronavirus and then with the uprising for racial justice have totally upended everything. Non-Black climate activists have been struggling to figure out how much to push on climate when so many are dealing with pandemic disaster and systemic police violence against Black people is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Late last month, I was contacted on social media by a white woman who was writing about climate. She said “Climate justice=racial justice since black Americans bear brunt of mainly white produced pollution. Can I get a quote to back me up?”

Here were my responses:

But white people aren’t the only ones who can be problematic around race and climate. I was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle about racial justice and climate justice. Since then, I have been contacted by a number of people, including a Black candidate for local office who wanted to do an event with me on climate. I looked to see who the candidate was challenging (another person of color) and explored their platform. The candidate was quoted in 2016 saying that they would work to get more police on the street. I asked the organizer if the candidate’s position had changed. They referred me to the candidates website which stressed police accountability and reform. I declined the event. Here’s what I said:

[The candidate’s] current potion on policing is too regressive for me to collaborate, particularly when challenging a progressive [POC] incumbent. I’m active in both climate and BLM. If [the candidate] moves to a defund police position, I’d definitely reconsider!

Now is the time to be HAVING A DIFFERENT CONVERSATION. If your organization can’t find any POC who are qualified to talk on your panel, then you need to have a different panel. Or perhaps you have an organization that has been twisted by racism because you only look to white people and white institutions for expertise. Our conversations need to be intersectional and build toward the broad coalition that we need to change things on a large scale. The time for silos is over. The time for all-white leadership is long past. This is why the Green New Deal is so important. It brings together climate solutions with economic solutions, and leaves no one behind.