Environmental Justice in the Deep South: A Golden Anniversary Reflection on Stimulus and Change

Abstract

2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Letter From Birmingham Jail written by the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (“King”). After being arrested on Good Friday in Birmingham, Alabama, King wrote the famous letter as an indictment against the state of racial injustice in the Deep South. Indeed, for King, the American Civil Rights Movement (“the Movement”) was born in response to the legal system’s contradiction between ideals of law and justice and the reality of racial discrimination. In the fifty years since King wrote Letter From Birmingham Jail, much has changed in America. In addition to the Movement giving rise to an “environmental justice” movement, America also elected its first Black president, Barack Obama. Moreover, in the wake of devastation and destruction in Louisiana, a southern state struck by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, the Deep South is leading a “new” environmental justice movement wherein the Louisiana Workforce Commission heads collaborative efforts in growing “green jobs” as a means of ecological sustainment. These efforts are partially possible because of fiscal appropriations through the Obama Administration. This Article commemorates the 50th anniversary of Letter From Birmingham Jail by contrasting how conditions have changed in the Deep South in the last fifty years. Specifically, this Article argues that Louisiana—a southern state with a history of racial issues—is leading a new environmental justice movement by implementing ecologically-friendly reforms and growing green jobs. To support its thesis, this Article is structured in six interconnected parts. Part I provides an introductory overview. Part II develops a historical foundation by providing an analysis of King’s theology and the South’s racially divisive conditions in 1963. Part III builds upon Part II by detailing how the theology that undergirded the Movement naturally progressed into an environmental justice movement, with clergy accepting significant leadership roles. Part IV transitions to examine Louisiana as a case study, outlining some of its devastation resulting from the hurricanes and oil spill, while Part V highlights the state’s cutting-edge environmental operations, proving this Article’s thesis as true. Finally, Part VI concludes by positing what King might think of Louisiana and the new South in a new environmental justice movement.