Environmental Racism Analysis

When it comes to the rules and guidelines of the Flint Hill, the four core values have always been a cornerstone of the community itself. However, there have been certain situations where these values have not been held to the utmost attention, and, as an example, I will be using the town meeting in which the BSU, collaborating with the Environmental Club, showed their Environmental Racism presentation. During this presentation, there were many people who were being disrespectful, and this could be noticed through evident bursts of laughter in que with certain slides of the presentation.

Much of disrespect to the presentation is most likely credited to the fact that it talked about race in general, yet many of the people who disliked the presentation
for this reason don’t understand that the message revolves around race as a topic.

“I was asked at one point why we ‘included’ race in our presentation,” said Alimatou Demba, co-president of the BSU.
“because more people (particularly those who were being disrespectful) would be on board if we didn't. The fact is that it is about race. Environmental racism is about race, and to take that out of the presentation is to convolute and disrespect the cause. People should be able to hear about issues regarding race without losing their minds, and if they can't, it is not my problem. If the only way for me to get your respect is to take race - the reality of my people and people like me - out of it, then it is not respect: it's a lie. And that's where the disrespect comes in: people do not want to deal with the fact that racism exists in this country.”

However, this is not the only problem. While one can choose to disagree with someone else’s opinions, outright ignoring them is the worst option to take in this type of situation, as all you’re doing is showing that you are not mature enough to have a composed discussion on the matter.

What’s worse about this situation is that the disrespect continues even outside of the town meeting all of the time, as multiple black students have reported to being verbally harassed and berated by other students in the
community.

“Black students—including those who don’t contribute to BSU presentations or aren’t even members of BSU—will often be barraged with questions and derogatory comments regarding the content we put out.” said Nala Duma, co-president of BSU. “The goal in these interactions (for the disrespectful students) is often not to gain deeper understanding or learn more about how to use the information they receive to affect change. The goal is to make Black students feel uncomfortable sharing Black experiences in American society and around the world within the space that is the Flint Hill community.”

The disrespect shown by multiple students during and after the presentation on environmental racism are clear signs that there is a serious lack of respect within the community itself, and to continue allowing it happen would be the same as removing respect from the four values of Flint Hill.