大象传媒

Young Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color at the center of environmental justice movements are often overlooked. This was evident in 2019 during Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg鈥檚 whirlwind visit to the United States. Thunberg, who recently addressed world leaders at the World Economic Forum, often finds herself in the spotlight. Here are three activists of color who deserve their own spotlight.

Maka艣a Looking Horse鈥�

When water activist Maka艣a Looking Horse, Mohawk Wolf Clan and Lakota, in Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario, Canada, learned that Swiss multinational food and drink corporation Nestl茅 was removing 4.7 million liters of water daily from her community鈥檚 aquifers without their knowledge, she had to act. 鈥淣estl茅 takes the water from the land and bottles it to sell back to us. To make matters worse, they鈥檙e doing so on expired permits,鈥� she says.

Looking Horse personally handed Nestl茅鈥檚 CEO a cease and desist letter in June 2019. Her actions led to national attention, and she was invited to open for the United Nations Youth Climate Summit. 鈥淗umans must build a stronger spiritual reconnection to our mother, the Earth,鈥� the 22-year-old water protector told her audience. 鈥淎n ethical relationship with creation, a natural bond. If that existed, among all nations, we would not be facing the catastrophic crisis we are in today.鈥�

 As part of her Indigenous Studies program at McMaster University, Looking Horse is researching the poisonous water conditions on First Nations land. The water isn鈥檛 safe to drink is because it contains heavy metals like arsenic, she says.

鈥淲e are in the middle of and we are surrounded by these cities, but we are still in this water crisis,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 all part of environmental racism.鈥�

To raise awareness of the crisis and Nestl茅鈥檚 role, in 2018 Looking Horse created a Day of Awareness for her community, featuring speakers and a 5-kilometer run. 鈥淭raditionally our communities had runners to carry messages to different communities,鈥� she explains. 鈥淎nd so our message was to Nestl茅 to stop taking our water.鈥濃��

Elsa Mengistu

Mengistu, a freshman at Howard University, has always cared about social justice, but when she came across the work of鈥痁ero Hour, a youth-led, nonprofit鈥痚nvironmental justice organization, she saw for the first time climate justice framed with a lens that focused on the people affected鈥痓y climate change and climate disasters, not just data and scientific jargon.鈥�鈥�

鈥淸That] is all great,鈥� Mengistu says about the technical focus, 鈥渂ut it doesn鈥檛 get to the root of the problem, which is people and the chaos that climate crisis creates, and how that manifests in our everyday lives and in conjunction with other injustices.鈥濃��

The youth activist鈥痟as worked with Zero Hour for the past two years, in various roles.鈥疭he describes鈥痯lanning a large-scale summit to train 350 youth ambassadors to be climate leaders in their local communities.鈥�鈥�

鈥淥ur focus there is to give entry points and resources into climate activism,鈥� Mengistu says.

She also works with the鈥疨ower Shift Network,鈥痯lanning a 4,000-person conference鈥痠n鈥痮rder to鈥痶rain and engage people鈥痺ho have鈥痭ot been in the movement,鈥痑nd hone the skills of people who have. 鈥淔or me, the best way that I had been able to utilize my skill set is to connect people to resources,鈥� she says.鈥�

Mengistu鈥痠s juggling lots while she is in her first year of university, but still sees a place for activism in her life. She has had to learn about balance within organizing spaces.鈥�鈥淚n order for us to even sustain a movement, we have to sustain ourselves,鈥濃�痵he says.鈥�

Mari Copeny aka Little Miss Flint鈥�

In 2016, 8-year-old Amariyanna 鈥淢ari鈥� Copeny, also known as Little Miss Flint, wrote President Barack Obama a letter about the water crisis in her hometown of Flint, Michigan. That letter, and her subsequent meeting with Obama, were the start of the now 12-year-old鈥檚 activism鈥攁nd goal of being a U.S. President herself. 

Little Miss Flint regularly reminds the world through her social media platforms鈥攕he has 118,000 followers on Twitter鈥攊nterviews, and speaking engagements, of the Flint water crisis. 

鈥淸Mainstream environmental鈥痡ustice movements] don鈥檛 always focus on and amplify the voices of Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth even though we are living with the issues daily,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey need to make sure they are giving space to those voices that are so easily forgotten.鈥�

Copeny鈥檚 message extends beyond Flint鈥檚 water. She cares about the intersecting issues of鈥痮ppression and鈥痯uts resources in different places.鈥疉ccording to her website, Copeny has raised more than $500,000 since 2016, helping more than 20,000 children get clean water, school supplies, and other resources in Flint and other cities facing similar challenges. 

鈥淭o the people [who] are living outside of Flint, the crisis is not over yet,鈥� Copeny says. 鈥淏ut Flint is not the only city dealing with a lead water crisis, in fact, there are hundreds of other communities dealing with the exact same crisis. If we forget about鈥疐lint鈥痶here is no hope for any of those other communities.鈥濃��