Exposed

“…injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

America is in pain. The deadly pandemics of coronavirus, of systemic racism, of poverty, and of climate change are inextricably intertwined. Most of these roots run deep; they are dense and enduring.

For some reason, I can’t stop looking at this majestic old beech tree, anchored to a steep embankment. What is it trying to teach me?

Focusing more closely, I see trauma etched on its roots. Initials and names crudely carved into gnarled wood. And I think of these names—George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery—that are being carved, in memoriam, into our collective soul. They join far too many other names—names of people of color—each one a wound that scars over, but never heals.

Writing in celebration of nature right now seems futile, if not frivolous. Tangled together with the matter of ecology is the matter of inequality.

It’s past time to address racism of all sorts, including environmental racism. And for me, that means it’s time to listen and learn.

This conversation is a police brutality conversation on top of a Covid-19 conversation, and it all adds up to a devaluation of black life… That’s what climate change is as well, because of environmental racism. We’ve got to divest from systems that are killing us and costing us, and invest in our people and our planet.”

Heather C. McGhee, from NY Times article, “Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism”