Environmental Racism

Abstract

The above quotation speaks volumes about the need for creating authentic paradigms or tools of analyses relative to the various cultures, particularly in assessing societal occurrences and acts resulting from a racially hostile environment. In a positive response to “The Challenge of Environmental Justice” by ecologists George Middendorf and Bruce Grant, Charles Nilon (2003), as did the other two ecologists, echoed the message of the above quoted African proverb, concluding that “to conduct relevant research there, ecologists must develop true collaborations with low-income communities and people of color.”¹ More to the point, he acknowledged social scientists working on conservation issues—McAvoy, Winter, Outley, McDonald, and Chavez in their “Conducting Research with Communities of Color,” in which they “recognized the importance of allowing researchers to ‘experience reality as residents do,’ and recommended that researchers should incorporate the oral tradition found in many African American communities into their work.”²

Until the lions have their history, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter.

—African proverb