Environmental wardens

[Reprinted from Issues & Views Summer 1997]

Consider the situation into which blacks have put themselves. By surrendering to "leaders," who act as brokers in their behalf, they are powerless to overturn decisions made by these people, even when some blacks desperately wish to do so. The case of Convent, Louisiana, is a revealing example. For the past several years, officials of this predominantly black town have been courting businesses, hoping to get at least one major company to come to their region. Their efforts were fulfilled when Shintech, Inc. chose Convent for a new plastics manufacturing plant.

The location of such a company in the town would mean not only new jobs and benefits, but a generally improved standard of living for the entire area. There is also $5.6 million projected for school revenue. Many of Convent's residents now work in the nearby sugarcane fields for $6 an hour. At Shintech there would be the possibility of employment for such people at $12 to $15 an hour. To make this happen, the company has plans for an extensive training program. The plant must first be built, however, and this would mean over 1,000 construction jobs--even before the company opens its doors.

So, what's the problem? The problem is the overzealous environmentalists, a clique that has grown like poison ivy throughout the country. Their power is so great that their elitist notions of environmental "purity" override all other opinions on the matter. This crew has decided that the Shintech plant would cause "pollution" to the area. Anyone who follows the left-wing ideologues who make up environmental groups know that they are committed to undermining as much industrial development and production as possible. It's what they do.

When the Greenpeace crowd got wind of Shintech's plan, and learned that blacks lived in the area, they pulled the "environmental justice" ploy out of the hat. If it were not a black population involved, they would have pulled some other ploy out of the hat. It is members of groups like Greenpeace who drive the policies of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Taking its cue from these groups, the EPA ruled that the hazard of possible pollution from Shintech's plant outweigh the benefits to the residents. They have rejected Shintech's request for a permit to build the plant.

Many black residents of Convent are furious about what they consider a total disregard of their needs, and have formed the St. James Citizen Coalition to fight the environmentalists. In a September Wall Street Journal article, several expressed their outrage, as they spoke of zealous environmental groups like Greenpeace "descending" on their town "like a plague of locusts."

So, under the circumstances, what's a good environmentalist to do? Call Jesse Jackson to the rescue, of course. And, indeed, the environmentalists rang up their buddy and political ally, demanding that he get on the case, and read the riot act to these recalcitrant blacks. Jackson complied, of course, and has come out in support of the environmentalists and against the citizens of Convent. Convent's stunned black officials appealed to Jackson by letter (he will not take phone calls), inviting him to come to the town and hear their side of the story. So far, they've gotten nothing but silence from Jackson's office.

In a telephone interview, Nanette Jolivette, the lawyer representing Convent residents, who is also black, had this to say: "If the EPA were serious, they would see to it that the company is made safe. That's the job of the EPA. Generations of people here have worked in the cane fields of the plantations for low wages and no benefits. Now, in this small, poor community, where some households have as many as 10 people, if just one person in that family gets a job in the new company, 10 people will then have health insurance and other benefits. When environmentalists want to raise the 'environmental racism' issue, they should have to come into that community and answer to the people who live there. They've got to listen to the people who are affected." (But, then again, if The Leader himself chooses not to listen, why should anyone else?)

Jolivette, whose field is environmental law, speaking about members of environmental groups, said, "Environmentalism is almost a religion to them. If industry shuts down, where does that leave the South?" She laughed hilariously at a suggestion made by one of the environmentalists about jobs that are still available on "the beautiful old plantations."

The power that blacks have granted to people like Jackson is no laughing matter. To create potentates to rule over you, where there is no need for submission is backward, destructive behavior. And when these potentates are more beholden to others than to the community that created them, blacks have only themselves to blame. In this particular case, even if unusual pressure forces Jackson to relent and support the Convent residents, the pattern has long been set for blacks to passively concede to demagogues.

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