Barbara Smith

This week's reading about Black feminist leader Barbara Smith had a lot of parallels to the environmental justice movement. Like Black feminism, environmental justice has a lot of dedicated leaders, such as Dr. Robert Bullard and Rev. Benjamin Chavis. These leaders were instrumental in not only activism and advocacy surrounding their issues, but in creating environments in which their voices could be heard and taken seriously. Like Black feminism, the environmental justice movement forefronts marginalized voices who face an uphill battle of having the relevant issues be understood as critical while being at risk of lacking political power. Both movements had to create their own political power by with, through, and around various other activist groups.

In addition to working with other activist groups, both movements are intertwined with other issues. Black feminism correlates with equal rights for both the Black community and women. Environmental justice correlates with equal rights for the Black community and environmentalism. They both also often rely on smaller, grassroots local organizing to affect change.