В Эванстоне обсудили экологическую несправедливость и гентрификацию на примере истории дерева Анджел Оук

A sprawling southern live oak tree on South Carolina’s Johns Island holds deep significance for the Lowcountry’s Gullah Geechee population, descendants of enslaved people from West and Central Africa. Jessica Marcy’s 2022 documentary short film “A Tree Story: Gullah/Geechee Roots and Resilience” revolves around the tree, known locally as Angel Oak, highlighting the community’s preservation efforts amid increased development and climate change. Dozens of community members gathered Wednesday afternoon for the Evanston Environmental Justice Coalition’s screening of Marcy’s film at the YWCA Evanston/North Shore, followed by a panel discussion examining local environmental racism and policymaking. The coalition is composed of community members, advocacy groups and religious organizations across the city fighting to eliminate environmental racism. Climate Action Evanston Executive Director Jack Jordan (Weinberg ’22) said open-ended conversations between Evanston residents about sustainable development are essential. “Part of our inability to deal with some of the tricky conversations in Evanston when it comes to housing and development is that our only mode of public discourse is people giving two-minute spiels at City Council,” Jordan said. “That’s just not a great way to ever really hear each other out and think through a difficult issue.” From 2010 to 2018, the number of Black households on Johns Island declined by 31% while the number of white households increased by 64%, according to census data cited during Marcy’s film. Beyond dislocating Black residents, rapid development has exacerbated flooding and wind damage on the island, the documentary explained. Over Zoom, Marcy said that after spending six weeks in South Carolina, she recognized the cultural significance of the region’s water and trees for Gullah Geechee residents. Telling the documentary’s story “through the lens of a tree made sense,” she added. “People in this community really feel this sense of connection to their ancestors,” Marcy said. “And the land is connected to the culture and their ancestors and their descendents.” After unpacking the documentary’s major themes with attendees, Jordan noted the EEJC held its quarterly meeting Tuesday to ensure advocates are metaphorically “reading from the same sheet music.” He then outlined the coalition’s three campaigns for this summer and fall. Jordan first addressed the Church Street Waste Transfer Station, which he said exemplifies environmental racism in Evanston. Residents in the 2nd and 5th Wards have protested the facility’s sounds and smells for decades. Recently, the city has looked to remedy the issue, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino residents, according to Jordan. He said the EEJC has entered an “information gathering mode” to address the station, which “by all modern law, should not exist there.” “Sometimes, there are trucks operating after hours, rodents in people’s backyards,” Jordan said. “We heard at a community meeting that people can’t hang up a picture on their outside wall nearest the transfer station because the walls shake because of the trucks.” He also discussed initiatives to help low-income residents address rising energy costs and create strategies to implement recommendations from the city’s Environmental Equity Investigation, which City Council unanimously adopted in January. Later, during a panel discussion featuring CAE Chair Leslie Shad and Evanston Cradle to Career Community Impact Manager Baxter Swilley, attendees analyzed how to balance Evanston’s potential as a “climate haven” with concerns about increased development. Swilley drew connections between gentrification on Johns Island shown by Marcy’s documentary and Evanston’s own declining Black population. “The parallels are uncanny,” Swilley said. “The gentrification that’s happening in the 5th Ward is rapid. It seems to be unbridled. It’s driven by economics, of course, but I think it’s all of our responsibility to protect people who would establish roots here.” Jordan emphasized that access to Evanston’s “environmental assets” like its lakefront has long been unequal. As gentrification drives Black residents away from the city, he urged attendees to question who is benefitting from environmental progress. Swilley added Black and Indigenous people often “feel the land spiritually,” adding that the documentary’s resonance in Evanston demonstrates that something “more significant (is) coursing through humanity now.” Sixth Ward resident Mary Beth Schaye, who volunteers with CAE, echoed Swilley’s sentiment. “Someone can be so different from you, but there’s always a connection. Their concerns are our concerns,” Schaye said, referring to community members on Johns Island. “Maybe it doesn’t look exactly the same, but you can see yourself in them.” Email: [email protected] X: @jdowb2005 Related Stories: — Residents begin discussing solutions regarding Waste Transfer Station — City returns focus to Waste Transfer Station — Environmental Equity Investigation reflects longstanding activism