The Deep South Center for Environmental
Justice: Education and Empowerment for an Engaged Citizenry
By Beverly Wright, director, Deep South Center
for Environmental Justice, and Debra Rowe, senior fellow,
Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable
Future
“Democracy required an educated populace; the
survival of the earth will require an environmentally
conscious citizenry. It is our job as educators to
make this a reality.”
—Beverly Wright
“I began my undergraduate studies at Xavier
University as a chemistry premed major. After meeting
Dr. Beverly Wright and working with the Deep South
Center for Environmental Justice, I realized my true
calling in life . . . working in the field of public
health to help create healthier communities. As deputy
director of a nonprofit organization involved in the
fight against AIDS, I am keenly aware of the disparate
impact AIDS and other diseases have had on the African
American community. The valuable lessons learned at
the center have enabled me to be a consummate change
agent within the African American community, securing
resources to provide services to those at greatest
risk.”
—Robert
Swayzer III, MPH, CHES (DSCEJ Intern 1994-1996)
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Mississippi River Avatar community
advisory board meeting |
Although race was clearly the central feature of the
Brown case, income and class were its close
cousins. Black students from rural and impoverished
areas represented the constituency of plaintiffs in
the group of cases that comprised the landmark Supreme
Court case. Historically black colleges and universities
(HBCUs) have long prepared leaders to serve their communities
and to resist and overcome the direct and residual effects
of racial oppression. Xavier University in Louisiana
follows in that tradition of social justice and uplift.
To think that there are communities across the South
where economic conditions are reminiscent of the late-nineteenth
century is hard enough, but to learn that a new and
deadly enemy has crept into the picture is unthinkable
for most people. This nefarious enemy of low-income,
mostly rural African Americans is environmental pollution.
Across the country, many of the toxic waste dump sites
and the industries most dangerous to human health are
located near communities of people of color and poor
people.
To fight against this deadly phenomenon, a dynamic
university-community alliance is emerging nationwide
under the umbrella of sustainable development. With
environmental justice and social equity as its goals,
sustainable development seeks to create a flourishing
environment, healthy communities, and strong economies.
As a spur to global engagement with this issue, the
United Nations has declared 2005 to 2014 the Decade
of Education for Sustainable Development. The Deep South
Center for Environmental Justice serves as a model for
how colleges and universities can work with communities
to address critical environmental issues.
The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
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Strategic Planning
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The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ)
at Xavier University is one example of how a university
can make a commitment to address sustainable development
challenges. The center was developed in 1992 in collaboration
with community environmental groups and other universities
within the region to address pressing environmental
justice issues. A major goal of the center has been
the development of minority leadership in the struggle
for environmental, social, and economic justice along
the Mississippi River Corridor of Louisiana. The center’s
philosophy is that “Environmental justice mandates
the right to ethical, balanced, and responsible uses
of land and renewable resources in the interest of a
sustainable planet for humans and other living things.”
The center concentrates its work along the Mississippi
River Chemical Corridor, an eighty-five-mile stretch
of land located between the cities of New Orleans and
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that is home to approximately
134 petrochemical plants and six refineries. Residents
in this area bear the pollution burden for the entire
state. They have suffered accordingly.
The center represents an innovative approach to addressing
environmental justice issues and embraces a unique model
for community-university partnerships, called “communiversity.”
This model emphasizes a democratically based collaborative
partnership between universities and their surrounding
communities. The partnership promotes bilateral understanding
and mutual respect between community residents and academics.
In the past, collaborative problem-solving attempts
that included community residents and academics were
one-sided in terms of who controlled the dynamics of
the interaction, which group was perceived as having
valuable knowledge, and who benefited.
Preparing Citizens for Environmental Leadership
In recent years, the center has become a powerful resource
for environmental justice, education and training. It
has developed curricula that are culturally sensitive
and tailored to the educational and training needs of
the community. Because of this work, many local residents
have grown into national and international leaders,
advocates, and spokespersons for environmental justice.
For example, one community board member, Margie Richard,
is the North American 2004 Goldman Environmental Prize
winner. She is the first African American to win this
prestigious prize.
The center not only promotes education and empowerment
of citizens on environmental issues, but also provides
practical job training for residents. In a collaborative
effort, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
at Xavier University of Louisiana, the Environmental
Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University,
and the Trainers of the Laborers-Association of General
Contractors (AGC) Education and Training Fund have successfully
trained over 150 residents from environmentally at-risk
urban neighborhoods in New Orleans and Atlanta.
The Role of Xavier University in Supporting
Environmental Justice Initiatives
In 1992, Xavier University assumed financial responsibility
for the development of the first environmental justice
center at an academic institution in America. The center
works with faculty and students on most of its projects.
It offers scholarships to students through its environmental
justice scholars and internship programs, it supports
an Environmental Justice Club, it regularly conducts
tours of the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor, and
it hosts seminars and brown bag lunches for student
and faculty development.
Xavier University’s strong support for the center,
while not surprising, represents a bold and unconventional
step for university-community relationships. However,
most of the communities the center serves are in a battle
with large chemical companies and many of these companies
support the university and our students through scholarships,
so we must walk a fine line. Therefore, the center does
not accept funds from corporations, but when they call,
we encourage them to support the university and our
students through scholarships. Our hope is that we can
educate a more environmentally conscious citizen.
The DSCEJ was the first of five environmental justice
centers to be established at HBCUs over the last ten
years. Unfortunately, however, only three remain. They
include the DSCEJ at Xavier University in New Orleans,
the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta
University in Atlanta, and the Center for Environmental
Equity and Justice at Florida A&M University in
Tallahassee.
The DSCEJ at Xavier University has been recognized
both nationally and internationally for its work. Its
model is being studied for replication at other universities
in the United States. At least two or three large universities
from across the country visit the center each year to
learn how to work successfully with communities on these
issues. We are particularly proud of the environmental
justice curricula that the center developed, which 225
New Orleans public school teachers were trained to use.
The DSCEJ is committed to the struggle for environmental
justice and will continue its fight through education
to win social and environmental justice for black people
in the Deep South. The spirit of Brown lives
on in the center’s mission and work.