Notes and quotes

A few notes and quotes from recent readings and research. The thread here is the power – and necessity – of connectedness.

Environmental justice pioneer Hazel Johnson

The arc of the story of environmental justice pioneer Hazel Johnson is instructive. As is the maturity of the organization she founded in 1979 – People for Community Recovery (PCR) – and the work it continues to do today.

My takeaways are a couple of themes. First, Hazel’s leadership seemed to emerge from a deep commitment and personal engagement to both activism and just plain neighborliness. Love for people, community and their right to civil and healthy lives. Second, the “environmental” label covering her work (and PCR’s) is broad. It encompasses fair housing and economic development. It also moved from a singular focus on reducing harm from urban pollutants to now also incorporating climate change and sustainability. That seems to be a pattern, and a positive one for the both/and goals of repairing past harms while moving forward inclusively. Finally, the movement she started heightens very local community power (“nothing about us without us”) while also recognizing connections to the larger national network of others who are engaged in similar goals.

The Indigenous wisdom of kinship

From All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (2020, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson, eds). This is from the essay “Indigenous Prophecy and Mother Earth” by Sherri Mitchell. I’m struck by the ideas of kinship with all elements of the natural world.

“When we recognize the personhood of the beings in the natural world, we start to recognize that they have something valuable to teach us. The rocks, the eldest among us, carry four billion years of stories. This is why we refer to them as grandfathers: because they carry an enormous amount of diverse information and perspectives. Every plant, tree, and animal carries its own unique wisdom and can teach us how to live harmoniously with one another and in relationship with Mother Earth. When we extend our view of kinship beyond our anthropocentric view, a whole new world of knowledge becomes available to us.

“Another benefit of kincentric awareness is that it informs us of our responsibilities and obligations. When we have a bond of kinship with another, it impacts the way that we care for them. In healthy systems, we treat our kin with a greater degree of care, often expressing more gentleness and protectiveness toward them. 

“Indigenous kinship systems provide models of reciprocal care. We care for Mother Earth and Mother Earth cares for us.

We have words in our language that help to remind us of the balance that this relationship requires. One of those words is mamabezu; it means ‘he or she has enough.’ It is an acknowledgment that an individual has what they need to live their life with a sense of safety and dignity. Another word, alabezu, means ‘everyone has enough.’ The ‘everyone’ envisioned in that phrase includes all the beings in the natural world. When we are contemplating the value of ‘enough,’ we recognize that mamabezu must always be weighed against alabezu to ensure that there is a balance to life.”

Lessons from living under dictatorship

Finally, from Heather Cox Richardson’s Sept. 23 Letters from an American Substack post. The post starts by summarizing the remarks of Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres at the opening of the recent U.N. General Assembly. The post then moves on to quote the utterly batshit remarks of Donald J. Trump.

I’m just gonna note Guterres’ remarks.

“Guterres recalled that his youth in Portugal was spent ‘in the darkness of dictatorship, where fear silenced voices and hope was nearly crushed. Yet, even in the bleakest hours—especially then—I discovered a truth that has never left me: power does not reside in the hands of those who dominate or divide. Real power resides from people, from our shared resolve to uphold dignity, to defend equality, to believe—fiercely—in our common humanity, and the potential of every human being.

‘I learned early to persevere. To speak out. To refuse to surrender, no matter the challenge, no matter the obstacle, no matter the hour. We must—and we will—overcome.’”

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The photographs which accompany these posts are taken by me, and show different settings and views of Evanston (where I live). It is a visual reminder that this is the most important setting for belonging and contributing to community: our neighborhoods, our cities.