The term “people of color” comes out of the civil rights movement and is preffered by many people.

Anonymous, it seems as if I wasn’t entirely clear. The point of bringing in the Campus Climate Challenge survey was to contrast the relative diversity we do see at the grassroots of the youth climate movement with the lack of diversity in the staffs of mainstream environmental group. While surveys have shown that people of color care a great deal about environmental issues, that fact has not translated into diversity in who gets paid to do advocacy work for the environment. There are many reasons why that fact matters. Mainstream environmental organizations have a long history of making compromises at the expense of poor communities and communities of color. In his article, Marcelo offers several potential benefits to diversifying the environmental movement:

“Can you imagine if the environmental movement was effective at engaging people of color and leveraging their substantial support and talents? Millions of new supporters would surely translate into more political victories for the environment, more public support, more members, a larger volunteer base, richer partnerships and more financial support. In other words, the movement would be potentially more successful and influential than it ever has been before.”

While I agree that we need to unite around issues, how we address those issues and who is part of this unity is deeply affected by how racially diverse our movement and the organizations within it are. Trying to be “color-blind” in a society with such strong racial injustice and prejudices is what largely got us into this predicament in the first place.

im still confused as to why this is a huge issue. we all want green jobs, a better and more robust economy… the color of our skin shouldn’t matter. Lets unite around the issues. Lets get the anti-war, anti-racism, pro-economy and every other group involved instead of targeting people based on race

Though, I have a few qualms.

As far as the Grist article is concerned, I’m not comfortable with the author’s use of language. To say, “When it comes to race, the actual color of the green movement is decidedly white,” in my opinion, is alienating to people of color and fails to honor and recognize that the environmental justice movement IS the “green movement,” that communities of color are organizing around these issues - and HAVE been..whether or not they’ve fallen into the mainstream - which is the real issue; The stories and struggles of communities of color are misrepresented and underrepresented within our movement and most of the mainstream, predominately white orgs.

…But we should be conscious of being so divisive with our words…And with certain words in particular, such as the term “minorities” which I feel incredibly uncomfortable with.

I may be raggedy, but I wanted to bring those thoughts to light. And lastly, I think this article by Marcelo Bonta, also featured in Grist, addresses this issue well and gives clear examples for moving forward: http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/1/2/82747/54759

I had the privilege of meeting Marcelo at Summit 2007: Diverse Partners for Environmental Progress, the conference which he mentions in the article.

..I hope that’s productive and helpful. Thanks, again, Josh!!