TOWARD A CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE STUDIES: BLACK LIVES MATTER AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CHALLENGE-CORRIGENDUM

Abstract

TOWARD A CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE STUDIES Black Lives Matter as an Environmental Justice Challenge David N. Pellow Department of Environmental Studies , University of California , Santa Barbara Abstract In this paper I expand upon the recent use of the term “Critical Environmental Justice Studies.” This concept is meant to capture new developments in Environmental Justice (EJ) Studies that question assumptions and gaps in earlier work in the field. Because this direction in scholarship is still in its formative stages, I take this opportunity to offer some guidance on what Critical Environmental Justice (CEJ) Studies might look like and what it could mean for theorizing the relationship between race (along with multiple additional social categories) and the environment. I do so by (1) adopting a multi-disciplinary approach that draws on several bodies of literature, including critical race theory, political ecology, ecofeminist theory, and anarchist theory, and (2) focusing on the case of Black Lives Matter and the problem of state violence. Keywords: Environmental Justice , Black Lives Matter , State Violence , Racism , Speciesism , Scale , Expendability , Indispensability INTRODUCTION Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a social movement centered on the problem of state- sanctioned racist violence. The movement began as a response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a man who killed Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year old African American boy in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. From that moment on, social media, mainstream media, and the Black Lives Matter movement would routinely inten- sify the national focus on racialized state-sanctioned violence when yet another video or testimony surfaced featuring an African American being shot, beaten, choked, and/or killed by police or White vigilantes. The role of social media tech- nology was pivotal. As one writer put it, “Social media could serve as a source of live, raw information. It could summon people to the streets and coordinate their movements in real time. And it could swiftly push back against spurious media narratives . . .” (Bijan 2015 ). BLM co-founder Alicia Garza explained what the movement stands for: “Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black Du Bois Review, (2016) Page 1 of 16 . © 2016 Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 1742-058X/16 $15.00 doi:10.1017/S1742058X1600014X