Churches and Charity in the Immigrant City: Religion, Immigration, and Civic Engagement in Miami

7. Black Churches and the Environment in Miami

151 7 Black Churches and the Environment in Miami EILEEN M. SMITH-CAVROS In the beginning of the summer of , my summer job was mapping churches with the Religion and Civic Life in Miami Project at Florida International University. It seemed I was biding my time until I began my “real” academic research on my chosen research subject, the interplay between people and the natural environment. The mapping project, emphasizing social capital and religiosity , seemed unrelated to my research interests. However, in the Black urban and semi-urban neighborhoods where I was assigned to do my fieldwork, I found churchgoers connecting with nature through their engagement in various projects linked to the environment, ranging from neighborhood cleanups to re-vegetation and greenway creation. The goals of these community activists varied from social to environmental to spiritual-stewardship. While rarely labeled exclusively “environmental goals,” the activists’ civic engagement revealed important environmental connections and priorities among congregants in Black churches across projects and across denominations. These shared concerns and goals generated civic social capital (CSC), inspired by religion, to benefit the threatened natural ecosystems and the challenged Black neighborhoods of Miami, both of which seem equally beleaguered. This CSC was not only directed toward goals considered by many to be unusual for African Americans, but also entailed bridging with unusual allies, White environmentalists. As in Su Oltman Fink’s chapter on African Americans in West Perrine, the environmentalist African Americans I met deployed their CSC directly in formal politics. “Environmentalism” has long been seen as a movement appealing to economically stable Whites (Mohai ; Humphrey and Buttel ). For those who equate membership in “mainstream” environmental groups with level of environmental interest, this has led to a stereotypical view of Blacks as “nonenvironmentalists .” Early research suggested that social issues like community 152 EILEEN M. SMITH-CAVROS crime took precedence over environment (Howenstine ; Kreger ). These findings, however, have been re-examined by recent research suggesting that Blacks are as pro-environment as Whites. William Arp and Christopher Kenny () suggest that some earlier studies did not examine environmental issues of particular and immediate interest in Black communities. Judi Anne Caron describes Blacks interacting with the “New Environmental Paradigm” that emphasizes “stewardship and harmony” with the environment (, ). Several studies suggest that Blacks are more concerned than Whites about select environmental issues (Cutter ; Burby and Strong ; Newell and Green ; Bunyan and Mohai ; Mohai and Bunyan ). Why might Blacks be more concerned with some environmental issues than Whites? Part of this could be linked to environmental justice issues which abound in Black neighborhoods (Bullard ). Many researchers have found indirect discrimination in which Blacks and other minorities are more likely to reside near highly polluted Superfund sites (Hogan and Hogan ) and toxic waste sites (Bunyan and Mohai ). Arp’s research (Arp and Llorens ) supports the interpretation that environmental justice issues such as these can be linked to a greater degree of local concern among Blacks. Bullard () connects the degradation of land in poor and minority areas to the exploitation of people. Land and “place” must not be underestimated in the willingness of people to consider and address environmental issues. Liam Kennedy explains, “Place, understood as a space of provisional self-definition or communal definition, remains powerfully affective in urban culture. Places are charged with emotional and mythical meanings; the localized stories, images and memories associated with place can provide meaningful cultural and historical bearings for urban individuals and communities” (, ). He further notes that the “centrality of race to the configuration of contemporary urbanism is rarely acknowledged” (Kennedy , ). In the recent past, Blacks in the United States were restricted to particular spaces and places which now have special meanings for them, both negative and positive. Since Black churches have a history of activism, they seem to be logical points from which to examine environmental issues. Hans Baer and Merrill Singer () describe how African American religions historically provided strength for a people challenged over and over again by turbulent times. Carlyle Stewart credits “the pivotal role of black spirituality in shaping the consciousness , identity, and values of African-American people” (, ). He adds, “This model is not contemplative as other models of spirituality, but is dynamic, active and reflective” (Stewart , ). And Robert Franklin further states, “The Black church tradition emphasizes that personal conviction, moral renewal, and sanctification should manifest themselves in acts of justice, charity , and service in the wider world” (, ). Scholars have noted that “the BLACK CHURCHES AND THE ENVIRONMENT...