Second People of Color Environmental Summit

By ANTOINETTE GOMEZ

Special Correspondent

Oct. 23 to 27, 2002, marked a historic moment in the history of the environmental justice movement: the Second People of Color Environmental Summit. And I had the fortune to participate in the summit – something I had dreamed of doing when I first became involved in the movement as a graduate student at Clark Atlanta University in 1996.

I had often read about the 1994 People of Color Environmental Summit and how it galvanized the movement by forming networks of grassroots organizations and activists. Dr. Robert Bullard also shared his personal stories of the summit with me.

Photo by CHARLES SIMMONS   Antoinette Gomez sports a T-shirt promoting environmental protection.

My journey began by attending a Northeast Environmental Justice Network summit-planning meeting lastJune in New York City. I also attended a retreat for environmental justice activists at the Vallecitos Mountain Refuge in Vallecitos, N.M.

Later, in the fall, I received grant funding from the Environmental Leadership Program to do a documentary on the summit, and my excitement grew.

When I arrived at the summit, I felt invigorated by seeing the diversity of environmental-justice activists present. One image that continues to touch me is that of a Native American woman presenting at a plenary holding her baby. As I listened, I could not help but think of the babies born deformed on reservations or of the children who suffer from asthma in my home, the South Bronx.

Attending the workshops at the conference only made me feel more passionate about the work that I was doing. In particular, I was interested by an open-space workshop hosted by Omar Frejilla, program director for Sustainable South Bronx. Frejilla spoke of the work that his organization and others are doing concerning parks in New York City.

Now, just a few months later, I am working as an environmental consultant on one of the projects that he described.

Since the summit, I have been moved by various photo images – especially those of our youth. This spring, I coordinated a youth conference and training fair in Atlanta: Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences.

This was my second year coordinating a symposium on careers and college opportunities for urban and minority children. This time, however, one career panel addressed environmental justice. Three activists whom I spent quality time with at the summit facilitated the workshop: Felicia Davis, Max Weintraub and John Taylor.

Overall, attending the summit was a wonderful experience. I met new people, shared memories with old friends, learned more about energy- and climate-justice issues and began looking at the works of seven groups for my documentary, which will be completed by September.