Advocacy groups are stressing the importance of community-centered voices and input as they continue fighting towards environmental justice.
Tuesday, The Equity Alliance will host a mass canvassing event in Whitehaven in collaboration with Tigers Against Pollution (TAP) and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC).
The event is an extension of The Equity Alliance’s statewide campaign for environmental justice. The group said they have knocked on nearly 17,000 doors across the state.
Organizers said they are working to amplify the voice of residents as they “push back against Elon Musk and xAI’s impact on their neighborhood.”
Rachael Spriggs, statewide director of power-building for the Equity Alliance, said that although the majority of Memphis’ population is Black, the community still finds itself as an afterthought in conversations — especially those regarding environmental justice.
“Memphis is its own state in many ways,” Spriggs said. “We’re an afterthought, and we feel the brunt and impact of a lot of the legislation that is being passed.”
The Alliance has a statewide lens, which Spriggs said adds to holistic storytelling, however she noted that their goal is to empower the voices of groups doing the work in cities like Memphis.
“We have leaders that have taken the center on these issues,” Spriggs said. “We work really closely with them to fill deficits. We pride ourselves with being boots on the ground — building equity from the trap house to the White House.”
In the fight against environmental racism, Spriggs said the Alliance has positioned themselves to make sure their demands are not coming from “the top down,” but rather from the community. She noted that several groups are already doing this work in the city, and aligning themselves with other advocacy groups helps to center citizen input.
TAP said that canvassing is an extension of amplifying the voices of the working class and marginalized people. They said for their work to be effective, they must be familiar with all parts of the city.
“TAP has been canvassing [in Whitehaven] all summer long,” C. Yeargan, TAP organizer and member said. “The neighborhood is at the intersection of industrial and commercial mistreatment and abandonment. Despite this, it’s often overlooked by activists—simply because it doesn’t have the same robust organizational infrastructure and history as similarly wonderful neighborhoods like Boxtown. Whitehaven deserves to be as integral a piece of our organizing work as any other neighborhood.”
TIRCC emphasized the absence of working-class voices in policy making, and said that all voices must work together to ensure equality in communities and the economy.
“This is why we are grateful to support The Equity Alliance’s Powering Economic Justice Campaign by reaching out to our neighbors to demand that all of us, regardless of our immigration status or race, deserve economic policies that value our voices with dignity and respect,” Sandra Pita, organizer with TIRRC Votes said.
Spriggs said in Black leadership there is often an emphasis on bringing more businesses into Memphis. While this is important, she said, these projects can come at a cost to marginalized communities.
“We deserve the benefits — the jobs, the green infrastructure, clean neighborhoods,” Spriggs said. “We understand that canvassing is not just about saying no to harmful projects, but it’s about putting forth another vision about what it means to have sustainable and equitable development in Memphis.”
Spriggs said by taking a stand, she realizes she is directly impacting Memphis’ current and future generation. In hopes of securing a better future for the city, she said the only choice is to be “be strategic and continue to fight.”
“We’re fighting for the bare minimum at this point,” Spriggs said. “We’re watching democracy literally disappear in front of us. We cannot afford to be stagnant and double-think the work we’re putting forward.”
