She speaks with so much clarity. The mother of environmental justice, Hazel Johnson, represents her Chicago community of Altgeld Gardens on WTTW in 1990.
Environmental justice is distinct yet interconnected with environmentalism. The first focuses on the impacts of hazardous waste on people and communities (especially at the intersections of race and class), and the second focuses on those impacts on nature and the earth. Hazel pioneered environmental justice with her advocacy, which included getting land fills banned from the city of Chicago. Here she is fighting for her community in a public forum hosted by journalist John Calloway, who was taking a "devil's advocate" position in this 1990 WTTW special about pollution on the Southeast Side.
🌱 To learn more about Hazel, listen to Help This Garden Grow, our audio docuseries about her. She noticed how many of her community members had cancer, asthma and other illnesses. She took things into her own hands to find out why, and what she discovered has had ripple effects across the globe 🌎❤️🔥
🎧 Listen collectively by joining our listening club, Hazel’s Seeds! The main six-session listening club, called Hazel’s Garden, will meet weekly starting April 8, 2025 to discuss a different episode of our podcast. You can join our group, or you can start your own club, called a Community Garden, to listen and discuss the series with your community.
Hit the link in bio to sign up, or to get materials to start your own!