Fighting for the Future of Our Planet is Reproductive Justice
Rewire News
By Bailey Borchardt
One of the fundamental pillars of reproductive justice (a framework developed by SisterSong) is the right of anyone to start and raise their family in safe, sustainable communities. Yet so many people of color do not have access to this right because of environmental racism. For progress to occur, everyone advocating for access to sexual and reproductive health care and those fighting for environmental justice needs to uplift the work and priorities of Black people, indigenous people, and other people of color.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
By addressing major issues like climate change through a reproductive justice lens, our solutions can be all-encompassing.
Spit Justice, a Los Angeles-based, Black-led collective that’s inspiring social change through art and grassroots organizing, defines environmental racism as “forcing working-class, colonized communities to live within close proximity to environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, such as toxic waste, pollution, urban decay, and coal plants.” Such environmental racism affects the climate refugees of islands that are quickly disappearing due to rising water levels, and the community of Flint, Michigan, where there is still a lack of access to clean water. It also affects communities of color living throughout the five boroughs of New York City—which, despite its “progressive” reputation, is still leaving vulnerable people behind.
