| Dr. King was called to Memphis in 1968 on behalf of striking garbage workers.
Yet, forty years after his death, millions of Americans are still struggling with
environmental and economic justice problems that threaten their health and
welfare. This workshop will highlight two contemporary environmental and
economic justice struggles profiled in the 2007 United Church of Christ "Toxic
Wastes and Race at Twenty" report. The first presenter offers a strategy to
support two lawsuits (Holt v. Scovil and Holt v. County of Dickson and City of
Dickson, TN). The two separate lawsuits, filed by the NAACP Legal Defense
and Education Fund, Inc. and Natural Resource Defense Council, seek
personal injury, civil rights, and clean-up remedies from a county-owned
garbage dump that poisoned the African American Harry Holt family's health
and diminished their wealth. The second presenter offers a model of how the
Holy Cross neighborhood and the rest of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans
have formed a partnership with Tulane and Xavier Universities along with
numerous academic and non-profit groups to create a healthy community.
Moderator: Dr. Robert D. Bullard – Environmental Justice Resource Center at
Clark Atlanta University
Charles E Allen III – Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, Tulane/Xavier
Center for Bioenvironmental Research
Sheila Holt Orsted - Dickson, Tennessee resident and plaintiff in Holt v. Scovil
and Holt v. County of Dickson and City of Dickson, TN lawsuits
Dr. Beverly Wright – Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard |