Making Connections Between Climate and Racial Justice
This summer more heat-related records were broken, hurricanes and major floods caused severe damage, and wildfires devastated towns. Still, President Joe Biden, who has promised to be proactive on climate justice, has refused to declare a climate emergency, instead saying he has “practically” done so. On Sunday, Sept. 17, thousands of climate activists plan to descend on New York City for the March to End Fossil Fuels. The march takes place just days before the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit, also in the city.
Among the marchers will be Justin Blake, a Chicago-based climate activist and CEO of Black Underground Recycling; Blake is also the uncle of Jacob Blake, who was shot and seriously wounded by police as he walked away from them in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020. Justin Blake spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about the links between climate justice and social justice.
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Sonali Kolhatkar
is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women's Mission. Her forthcoming book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights, 2023). She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. She reflects on her professional path in her 2014 TEDx talk, “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host.” She can be reached at sonalikolhatkar.com
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