By Rev. Robert (Bob) Murphy
In 2011, the national Sierra Club gave me a special service award in recognition of 40 years of service. As far as I know, I’m the only clergy person who has received a national Sierra Club award that acknowledges ministry.
Lack of Cross-Class Participation
Looking back, I have some mixed feelings. Yes, the big environmental protection organizations did some good in creating Earth Day in 1970. Still, we could have done a lot more to build cross-class conversations. There were some flashes of enlightenment, but most environmentalists, in most places, lived in a bourgeois bubble.
It was a tragic situation. When Earth Day 1970 happened, American Indians and their allies were occupying the abandoned prison complex on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Warships moved towards the conflicts in Southeast Asia. California farm workers were organizing. The Earth Day organizers were silent.
Widening the Environmental Agenda
What saved part of the environmental protection movement was the rise of environmental justice work during the 1980s. BIPOC communities questioned the narrow agenda of organizations like the Sierra Club. When the 21st century arrived, environmentalists had a better understanding of BIPOC resistance to oppression.
Fast forward to the era of Donald Trump and some nasty developments in Florida. Last year, the state of Florida built Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades. It’s a concentration camp that may have seen 7,000 people detained by ICE agents. Since July, the Miccosukee and Seminole nations and their allies have been protesting against the camp. The Indians want to protect their homelands, and, also, they’re outraged by the abuse of prisoners.
Most of the prisoners at Alligator Alcatraz are workers. They were caught in the dirty and difficult jobs that support Florida’s prosperity. Many have been employed in the construction and food industries. Some have worked in hospitals and nursing homes. Now, they’re kept in cages in a harsh environment waiting for tropical storms.
Nowadays, I’m an old man dependent on walkers and wheelchairs. At the start of springtime, I was welcomed by the Miccosukee and Seminole people. I joined the protest at Alligator Alcatraz. Unitarian Universalists from several congregations were present.
It’s a new era for environmental justice, and I’ll do my best to be helpful. Join me.