Environmental Justice and Black Women’s Health Symposium to be held at Syracuse University

Environmental Justice and Black Women’s Health Symposium to be held at Syracuse UniversityApril 15, 2008Kishi Animashaunkanimash@syr.edu

The Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University is hosting the Environmental Justice and Black Women’s Health Symposium, addressing the intersections of race, gender, health and the environment, April 25-26 in the Comstock Room of the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center.

The symposium is open to the public. Registration is free. The symposium begins each day with registration at 8 a.m. The symposium closes with a performance by the dance theatre group Ananya on Saturday, April 26, at 7 p.m. in The Underground of the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center. Limited seating is available on the Justice Tour of Syracuse on Friday, April 25. For a complete schedule of symposium events, visit http://aas.syr.edu/events.htm.

The symposium features presentations by local community organizations, SU faculty, nationally recognized scholars such as Beverly Guy-Sheftall of Spelman College, and environmental justice and legal scholars such as Monique Harden and Sheila Foster. Areas of focus will include the impacts of racial health disparities and environmental injustice on black communities across the United States. The symposium will also emphasize the role of women, resistance and agencies within these communities in confronting these issues.

“Syracuse has the dubious distinction of being home to one of the most polluted bodies of water in the country, Onondaga Lake, along with a number of equally polluted streams — including Onondaga Creek,” says Linda Carty, professor of African American studies. “The civic leaders of Syracuse, like those in other places, put sewage and water-treatment plants, along with numerous other environmental hazards, within or very close to the city’s poor communities. African Americans in particular are affected by these toxins and other hazardous wastes to a greater degree than other citizens, causing persistent health issues. This situation is, of course, of great concern to African American citizens, activists and scholars.”

For more information about the symposium, contact Carty at lcarty@syr.edu or Kishi Animashaun Ducre at kanimash@syr.edu or (315) 443-4302.