10. Sharayah McDonald- Free Response 4

 On Thursday, March 30th, the Student Sustainability Commission hosted a panel event entitled "Climate Changes Lives: The Intersection of Racial and Environmental Justice", which Dr. Redick let me advertise to the class. I thought I could just recap some main points that were discussed. The biggest takeaway I received from Dr. Finn was that these issues of environmental injustice are so prevalent today because they have a history of 100 years of racism behind them. For example, African American residents, especially in our local area, were redlined into and forced to live in areas with more concrete, more industry, and less parks and greenery. Black people do not purposely live in those areas today because they prefer it; they were forced there through hundreds of years of racist policy making and city planning. Due to this, on average, for each 1% that a neighborhood has more black population, that neighborhood's value decreases by $1,000 (I believe this number is correct, I may have gotten it mixed up). Furthermore, just several years ago there was a school in a predominantly black neighborhood meant for children who were blind or disabled, and recently the mayor decided to destroy that school and build a trucking facility in its place. This was a local issue that could have and should have been voted on. Q Cogdell was a representative from the Virginia Black Leadership Organizing Collaborative, and my biggest takeaway from them was how important it is to vote, especially in these local elections. They explained that several years ago, in Newport News there was an election that came down to just one vote. Furthermore, they explained that due to children being raised in environments with no natural greenery and just concrete or cement, their average internal body temperatures were raised from the standard 98.6 to the 99's, which was shocking. There is scientific evidence that proves that areas with less trees and grass and shrubs cause negative health effects on the inhabitants. This can include increased rates of asthma, obesity, higher internal temperatures, and vitamin deficiency. Jasmine Batth is a student representative from the Student Diversity and Equity Council at CNU, and my biggest takeaway from her was how much responsibility we have as CNU students to understand the history of our school. CNU purposely chose this plot of land to build their campus on while there was a black neighborhood here, even though there were other empty places. Because we chose to attend this school, we have a responsibility to learn this history and understand how it impacts Newport News today. For example, Newport News is a predominantly black city while CNU is predominantly white, which can lead to a bubble of mindset and harmful stereotypes stemming in CNU about Newport News. In order to create any change, we must first eliminate the stereotypes. Lastly, Reverend John Kenney is a reverend at the Third Baptist Church, and his church was personally impacted by environmental racism. My biggest takeaway from him is that not only are these black, poor communities purposely denied natural ecosystems, they are also denied healthy food and access to pharmacies. They do not have fresh fruits and vegetables, and studies show that neighborhoods that lack parks and green space also lack proper medical care and pharmacies. He took the importance of voting a step further and asked the audience to attend local city hall meetings to better understand the issues that are being voted on, for he feels many community members do not even know what is happening to them. In conclusion, this panel was extremely eye opening and I am so grateful and blessed to have been a part of planning it as well as attending it. This is only the beginning of this important conversation, and I cannot wait to plan more events to bring this issue to light.