Fighting climate change with Black soul power

“How in the world are Black folks supposed to talk about climate change when we have other pressing issues to deal with? How and better yet, why?” Heather McTeer Toney’s opening questions cut to the chase: How is climate change relevant to Black Americans who already face daily challenges to 
survival?

In a nation where every Black family knows the stakes of getting home before the streetlights come on, this is a legitimate question. McTeer Toney says getting home beforehand is a matter of personal safety (“Your mama didn’t raise no fool”), communal responsibility (“When one had to be in, all had to be in. I am my sister’s, brother’s, cousin’s, next-door neighbor’s, and church member’s keeper”), and urgency (“Hurry up, we ain’t got all day!”).

The phrase “before the streetlights come on” becomes McTeer Toney’s central theme for taking action on climate change before it’s too late. Through it, she speaks directly to the Black community she hopes to rally and empower for climate action leadership. She offers statistics showing that Black Americans and other marginalized people are disproportionately affected by climate change. Their communities have been historically redlined and are still subject to the close proximity of polluting industries: Black people are 75 percent more likely than White people to live in these areas, now called fenceline communities. Black Americans breathe 40 percent dirtier air than White Americans, and their neighborhoods are often both food deserts, lacking fresh produce, and concrete jungles, lacking oxygen-generating trees and cooling green space. McTeer Toney makes a strong case that while White agnostics have been at the center of the climate change movement, Black folks have traditionally held a closer relationship with the earth through agricultural and ancestral wisdom. Furthermore, she argues, since Black folks are the recipients of environmental problems, who better to lead the charge?