Celebrating Black History Month with Rev. Vernon K. Walker

In recognition of Black History Month, we are featuring the stories of Black leaders in the environmental movement. Today, we chat with Reverend Vernon K. Walker, MA Climate Justice Program Director at Clean Water Action. Reverend Walker has over a decade of social justice organizing experience in the Boston area with a focus on the intersections of racial and climate justice. Rev. Walker currently is a graduate student at Tufts University pursuing a Master's in Public Policy degree with a focus on environmental justice. He is an alumnus of Boston University where he earned his first master degree in Theological Studies. www.cleanwater.org/podcast

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We also understand how climate justice is connected to racial justice. It's also connected to public health that's also connected to economical justice, et cetera. So essentially that's how I view the intersection of environmental justice and racial justice, that these fights are so intertwined that if we could see more environmental organizations that have been predominantly white led and predominantly upper middle class work with Bipoc organization in a meaningful and constructive way, I think it will become a force multiplier. Hello everyone. Welcome to We All Live Downstream, a Clean Water Action podcast. In each episode, we will be interviewing leading environmental and their work in the field. We'll dive deep into topics from drinking water and climate change to environmental justice, plastic pollution, and toxic chemicals. I'm your host, Jenny Vickers, the National Communications Manager for Clean Water Action. So in recognition of Black History Month, we are featuring the stories of black leaders in the Clean Water Movement. Today we are thrilled to welcome Reverend Vernon k Walker, Massachusetts Climate Justice Program director at Clean Water Action. Reverend Walker has over a decade of social justice Boston area with a focus on the intersections of Reverend Walker currently is a graduate student at Tufts University pursuing a master's in public policy degree with a focus on environmental justice. Welcome to We All Live Downstream. I'm so happy to have you here to celebrate Black History Month. Yes, I'm glad to be here. Hello, all. I'm hippopotamus glad and Elephant happy. That's awesome. So before we get into Black History Month and why we're here and what we're going to discuss today, I'm very excited to get to know you. You're new to the organization and you've started off with doing just such incredible work. So I'm so excited for this podcast to learn more about you. So I want to know a little bit more about you. Any fun facts where you're from, where you live now, what are some of your favorite things to do? Yes, yes. Thank you so much, Jen, and happy to be here and to be in dialogue with you. So yes, I'm originally from Philadelphia, west Philadelphia, born and raised. That's where I spent most of my young days, similar to Will Smith, some of you may all know that catchphrase from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. So I spent most of my upbringing in West Philadelphia, and then my family and I, when I was a teenager, we moved over to South Philly or South Philadelphia I should say, and well, also I lived in North Philly, so moved around just a bit. And Philly is a place that has a lot of culture and there's a place where there's a lot of things to see and do. Currently I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is right next door to Boston. Cambridge is the home of Harvard and MIT and so many biotech companies. And one of the things that I like to do for fun is listen to music. So often when I go to a city or a town, I like to check out a music show or a comedy show. In fact, last week I was in, a couple of weekends ago, I was in Tampa, Florida, and I went on down to a comedy show to go hear a comedian, and it was pretty hilarious. And yeah, so that's generally what I like to do are some things for fun locally here. I like riding bikes on the bike trail as we have many different bike trails here in the Cambridge, Boston, Somerville area, and also checking out an occasional Celtics game from time to time. So those are some of the things that I like to do in my free time, and if we told it all, Tom wouldn't allow us to tell it all today. Nice. Well, thanks so much for letting us know a little bit about you. I'm a musician. I am also passionate about music and nature and being outdoors and comedy shows all those things, and laughter's the best medicine. So it's good to laugh as much as you can given we live in kind of a dark world. So I mentioned this earlier, it is Black History Month here at Clean Water Action. This is our third year doing podcasts featuring black leaders in our movement. And that's what we love to do here on our podcast is really tell people's stories. So today we love to uplift you today and black leaders in the environmental cleanwater movement. So before we get started, what does Black History Month mean to you? Black History Month means a month of celebration, recognition for the extraordinary accomplishment that black folks have contribute to American society. Often we know that black and brown people are not acknowledged for the wonderful contributions that we have made throughout the history of the United States. In fact, there was black people that helped built the White House. For instance, Christopher Addis was certainly the first American to die in the American Revolution. He was half black and half Native American. So for me, black History Month is a time of celebration, recognition, and overall a reflective moment to look at the lives of various African-Americans and their contributions to many different facets of American society, whether we're looking at Ida B Wells or we're looking at Rosa Parks, or Dr. Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, or WBE Du Bois or Fannie Lou Hamer or Frederick Douglas. And the list goes on and on of black and brown folks who have contribute meaningfully in a constructive way to the building of this American democracy that we have. Thank you so much. Very well put. Yeah, it's a celebration also a lot more work to be done. So this is why you're here and you do the work that you do. So I want to learn a little bit more about what you're focused on. You're at Cleanwater Auction, but you also do a host of other things. So what do you currently primarily working on right now? Now I'm excited to talk about the energy efficiency work that we're doing. So I work with a colleague here at Clean Water and Clean Water Action here in Massachusetts, and we are outreaching to five cities here in Massachusetts encouraging residents to sign up for a free energy assessment, which would essentially help them lower their energy costs and lower their energy bills. And the work has relaunched, and I'm excited about where the work will go. In 2024, we also are working as a part of a coalition. The Environmental Justice Table is a coalition of environmental organizations that are advocating for systemic change in policy at the state level. So we are working on several different bills. We're working on bills related to improving indoor and outdoor air quality, particularly in environmental justice communities here in Massachusetts. We are also working on a citing reform bill, which essentially would allow the community to have input in regards to if infrastructure will be allowed to be built in their community infrastructure from National Grid and infrastructure from Epic Source, which are utility companies. So we're really excited about that. In fact, we have an event on January and perhaps by the time people hear this podcast January 20th, will have already passed. But we have a community forum happening on January 20th to educate people around the particularities of the citing reform bill and the benefits of the citing reform bill. So those are two areas that my work encompassed also, we're working with decision makers in the advisory council at the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council to push for more equity in the next three year plan. So here in Massachusetts, the way that we have this program that allows people, residents across Massachusetts rather to have energy assessments done for free homeowners and or renters is through the Masse program. And the Masse program takes its recommendation from the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council. So we are advocating to the members of the advisory council that we want to see equity and more equity in the next three year plan, which would start from 2025 to 2027 timeframe. Awesome. I said this earlier when we first got on, but you sound very busy and this is great. Here at Cleanwater action, I do want to talk a little bit more about what some of the things that you touched on integrating equity into energy efficiency. And I feel like we always talk about the interconnection, so I want to talk about that a little bit. So clean water action, clearly clean water is a priority. Climate change is one of our top priorities. Environmental justice is another top priority of ours among others, toxic chemicals, many other issues, zero waste. But can you just talk a little bit how this is interconnected and the work you're doing to connect racial justice and climate justice? Oh, yes. There is an inextricable link between racial justice and environmental justice. And essentially the work that I'm happy to be a part of here at Clean Water Action is ensuring that marginalized voices have a seat at the table. We are ensuring that marginalized voices have an opportunity to speak up and to be heard by decision makers because we believe that those that are closest to the pain should be nearest and closest to the power. So we are excited, we're Elephant happy and hippopotamus glad to be working with environmental justice organizations that have a broad membership, which primarily includes Bipoc people and these organizations are situated in environmental justice communities. So for instance, the environmental justice table that we are a part of, these organizations are chairing and leading the charge because again, it comes back to this idea that those who are closest to the pain should have most access to the power. So I'm excited about working with these frontline communities and I'm excited about the communities that are doing environmental justice work through a equity lens. And essentially for me, you cannot have racial justice without environmental justice. Several years ago I was on NPR and we talked about how racial justice is inextricably linked to environmental justice. And at that time it was a national uprising because killed and there was this large public outcry, not only that Black Lives Matter, but that we should understand how, particularly from the environmental movement, how our work intersects with racial justice. So for me, when you look at communities that are disproportionately harmed by the climate crisis, black and brown communities, communities that have been historically redline, communities that have been historically underserved, the residents that live in those communities are And also when we look at communities that was disproportionately harmed by Covid, it is also the same communities. So we also understand how climate justice is connected to racial justice, that's also connected to public health, that's also connected to economical justice, et cetera. So essentially that's how I view the intersection of environmental justice and racial justice, that these fights are so intertwined that if we could see more environmental organizations that have been predominantly white led and predominantly upper middle class work with Bipoc organization in a meaningful and constructive way, I think it will become a force multiplier. And I think that the effect that we can have on environmental justice would be even more greater if we had these coalition partners in these organizations who are working on indigenous justice organizations, who are working on racial justice organizations that are working on economic justice. And I believe that if we all can connect and we can all see the interwoven of our issues, what a great mighty force we can be. We're powerful together. So you are an organizer. It's clear, true and true. You recently organized with the communities responding to Extreme weather program under the Better Future Project. You've also served as an associate pastor over social justice for several years in Dorchester. Can you tell me more about this and how it's helped to shape your career path? Oh, yes. Yeah. So it was a social justice pastor over at the Baraka Church in Dorchester, mass. And for me, it became crystal clear that faith ought to inspire the fight for social justice. So I did my first master's at Boston University at the School of Theology. Consequently, that's where Dr. Martin Luther King went for his PhD at bu. And the school of Theology at BU had a very big focus on social justice and living a mission-driven life and training leaders to live a mission-driven life. And essentially, I think faith should inspire people to fight for racial and economical and environmental justice, particularly when we think about environmental justice that I'm a part of, which is the Christian tradition, we have this understanding of environmental stewardship to be able to take care of the looking at the earth as entrusted to humanity. And we certainly see this clearly from the story of Adam and Eve and how they were deputized to be caretakers. And essentially for me, the fight for social justice is connected to human dignity, human rights and belonging. And essentially, if people of faith are not fighting on the front lines in unison with people of moral conscience and people of goodwill on the front lines and impacted communities, if we're not standing in solidarity with the various segments of the population that care about social justice and also care about racial justice and environmental justice and economic justice and indigenous justice, et cetera, and also human rights, then we are doing a disservice to the community. This field of work can be very challenging. You did mention incredible black leaders earlier when we first started talking about Black History Month, but I know it's hard to keep going. Sometimes things can happen that could bring you down. I mean, but what inspires you to keep going and keep fighting? I know you said your faith, but are there other leaders in this movement that inspire shout out? Oh, sure. I'm inspired by the work of the Reverend Dr. William Barber over at The Poor People's Campaign and the incredible work that they're doing. In fact, I used to be more involved in the Poor People's Campaign here in Massachusetts in 2018. I was one of the lead coordinators of helping to plan the six weeks of demonstration, which the Poor People's Campaign had a national movement, if you will, for their different state chapters to hold rallies in front of their state houses to bring attention to the issues of poverty and racism and militarism and ecological devastation, et cetera. So I'm very much inspired by the work that the Poor People's Campaign is doing. Very much inspired by some of the environmental leaders here in Massachusetts that are working with climate organizations that are situated in environmental justice communities and the work that they are doing. I'm inspired by our colleagues that we have here at Clean Water Action that are doing such incredible work. It's too many names to name, and I don't want to run the risk of leaving someone out and making somebody, so I'm not going to name every, I'm not going to throw any names out, but it's incredible activist, advocates and leaders here at Clean Water that are doing tremendous work in the very. Yeah, I was going to say, they could just go back and listen to our Black History Month podcast for the last two years. There are several Clean Water folks and some allies on those. And I saw some of those names. So I continue to be inspired by the constant work of people on the ground and also elected leaders who are centering environmental justice at the forefront of their policymaking. I'm also inspired by students and those that are in undergrad and grad school and many different disciplines that understand the climate crisis and understand the climate emergency and understand that the fight for justice and having a just and equitable society does not roll in on the wheels of osmosis, but it only comes through active engagement. So what achievements are you most proud of. Here at Clean Water or just in general? In general? Oh, well, I'm proud of myself moving up to Boston several years ago to do my first master at bu. I'm proud of my original home church in Philadelphia, deliverance Evangelistic Church, and the tools that they have provided me to care about social justice and to also be community centered and anchored. I'm of the many different folks that I've met along the way that have offered encouraging words or encouraging or have sung encouraging song, et cetera. I'm also proud of, of the research that I've, I've done when I was with the communities responding to extreme weather, we published research that's on the United Nations website around social connections and extreme weather. So I worked with a couple tough faculty to publish this research and look at how much social connections impacts survivability in neighborhoods in Boston, such as Roxbury and Chinatown, which both of those communities are predominantly communities of color. So those are some of the things that I'm proud of, and if we were to continue to go on the list would be in innumerable. Well, that's amazing. So I know you are now working at Clean Water Action, and I'm excited to work with you and see all the incredible accomplishments and achievements you'll have well. But what are some of the goals you have ahead and how do you hope to achieve them? Oh, well, in the clean water context, we are looking to reach more households in the five cities that we talk about that we're doing energy efficiency work in. I'm excited about deepening relationships with other leaders from environmental justice communities around policy advocacy. I'm excited about doing more lobbying this year in our State House, calling for bold policy changes that are rooted in equity and rooted in justice. I'm excited to get to know more coworkers. I've only been at Clean Water, well, I've been at Clean Water since August 20, 23 or the end of August, 2023. But I'm excited to get to know more colleagues as our work is mostly virtual that I'm really excited about getting to deepen the relationships with folks here in Massachusetts and nationwide. I'm excited at this pivotal moment of the role that Clean Water Action can play and the national scene. We know that it's an election year. We know that depending on who's elected, it could be a very scary outcome. We know that here at Clean Water that we can't sit idly by, but there is a obligation, there is a responsibility that we have to activate our membership and activate our base to vote on values of climate justice and equity and fairness and racial justice. So I think it's going to be an exciting year with so much turmoil in the world and with so much chaos going on nationally and worldwide, the glimmers of hope that I see is that we have people on the ground who are not sitting silently and who are not standing idly by while the car of injustice continues to run. But people are saying, no, we can't allow the cars of injustice to continue to run if we are going to be on a path to build a more just and sustainable society. But we have to come from the sidelines and stand in front of that car and build a blockade, if you will, and say, no, no, no, we will not allow this injustice to continue on because as Dr. King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. So while we know that injustices look different in many different places across our country, I'm excited about the unity that we have here across the many different state chapters in clean water to advocate for cleaner water, cleaner air, and more inclusion, bipoc voices. And also advocating not only for the marginalized, but in unison with the marginalized that we may create systemic and radical change. Yeah, your vote is your voice. We say often. So I hope everyone makes their voice heard this election. I think a lot of people are scared, but we can speak out by voting and getting involved. So appreciate everything that you just said. We can't have a healthy democracy without people standing up and speaking out and making their voices heard. So that leads me into what we love to end our podcast with. I don't want to end the podcast because I'm loving this discussion, but I do want to talk about action. We're Clean Order Action, it's in our name, and we like to end the podcast where people can feel inspired to want to go out and do something. So can you just tell us how can people get involved right now and take action on the work that you're doing? How can people make a difference right now if they want to get involved? Yeah. Well, people can look up the website and they can find out, they can look at our email and they can look at my email or they can follow us on social media and see the various work that we're doing. And when I say we, I'm talking about Clean Water Action Massachusetts. If people want to know more about the work that I'm doing, please feel free to email me rather at vWalker@cleanwater.org. And I want to share this quote by Howard Thurman, who was the dean at Boston University around the time that Martin Luther King was a student there and also one of his inspirations. So Howard Thurman says, don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do that. Because what the world needs is for people to come alive. And that's the challenge that I have for our listeners, or the encouragement I should say of our listeners that ask what makes you come alive and go do that, because that's what we need as a society, people who are in emboldened that want come alive for the purposes of racial justice and economic justice and environmental justice and human rights justice, et cetera. So essentially, if you'd like to know a little bit more about the work that I'm fortunate to be involved in, please reach out and we'll be glad to chat with you. I love that quote. Thank you for sharing that. I often, like you mentioned, we work virtually, so sometimes it can be tough. I'm on a computer staring at a screen talking to people through, so I'm hoping there's more in-person activities we could do this year together, especially here at Clean Water Action. So hopefully I get to meet you in person. That would be wonderful. So thank you so much, Reverend Walker for being here and all the work that you do. Thanks for sharing your story with us for Black History Month. Black History Month is every month here at Clean Action, but we want to highlight you this month and thank you to all of our listeners for joining us to help lift up these important leaders during this month of celebration and reflection. To learn more about Clean Water Action, you can visit clean water.org. And if you want to support our work, you can just click on Donate Your Support helps to keep our engines running, allows us to continue to fight for healthier communities, clean water in a more just world. For all, be sure to subscribe to Clean Water Actions podcast. We all live downstream. We are available on all your favorite podcast streaming apps, including Spotify, iTunes, Google Play. I'm just going to say a quick bye to everyone. Thanks for listening. Yes, goodbye you all and have a blessed and prosperous day and be safe out there.