Roots in the Historical Black Churches Roots in the Historical Black Churches “We the Black Churches historically committed to justice issues; affirm the unitary nature of life and commit ourselves to the ministry of converging justice and environmental issues that are critical matters of life and death for our church and the African Diaspora.” - 1995     The Summit: The 1993 summit had a three fold purpose:  1) to introduce the Black Church leadership and constituency to the issues of environmental and economic justice; 2) to form a Network to undertake specific tasks; and 3) to establish a Black Church fund to allocate small grants to congregations for such tasks, and featured speakers such as Vice President Al Gore, Representative Cynthia McKinney, Representative John Conyers, and Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis.              The result of the summit was the Black Church Declaration on Environmental and Economic Justice, and a three part plan of Education, Mobilization, and Agitation/Participation.  In 1995, the Network produced a resource packet entitled Resource Packet for Black Churches Taking Action Against Environmental Racism FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.  Work continued throughout the 1990's, with large numbers of educational seminars held at churches and for clergy, and a 1998 investigative visit to look into environmental racism in Louisiana. What We Can Do Ask Congress to properly fund the Office of Environmental Justice and implement Executive Order 12898. Entitled, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Racism in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations” this is the strongest order from the federal government to address environmental racism. This law now needs to be codified by Congress and implemented. The Office of Environmental Justice was established to investigate and respond to environmental injustices, but their funding is limited, and so is their ability to respond to the myriad of cases. Hold a bible study session on environmental racism in your church. Download the NCC resource: Environmental Racism: An Ecumenical Study Guide. Resources: Race Waste and Class: New Perspective on Environmental Justice Race, Racism and Law: Speaking Truth to Power Environmental Racism: How minority Communities are expose to Toxic Soup The United Church of Christ, Toxic Waste and Race Report at Twenty 1987-2007 Learn More: Environmental Justice Home History of the Environmental Justice Movement and the NCC Environmental Racism National Black Environmental Justice Network