Our guest will be Jim White who has been the Clergy Leader for the Essex, New Jersey and Riverdale-Yonkers Ethical Societies. Jim has also worked for many years as a Mental Hygiene Lawyer and helps to lead both Bronx Climate Justice North and Congregations for Justice and Peace in Harlem.

“Frontline Communities” -people of color- are victimized “first and worst” by the ecological horrors caused by global warming. We need only remember the agonizing pictures of the 9th Ward in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, or learn of the plight of the still-homeless refugees from Hurricane Sandy in New York. The systemic racism causing these outrages is deeply rooted in the centuries of racial enslavement and exploitation that created the spectacular wealth of the Western Hemisphere.

But our Frontline sisters and brothers are also leading the struggle against the expansion of fossil-fuel climate devastation. The Native American-led action of “Water Protectors” in North Dakota is only the most recent example. Members of the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture helped Bronx Climate North join with Native American leaders on September 15th to march and rally against two of the banks that are funding the crude-oil pipeline threatening the Missouri River. Jim is eager to share this story and to brainstorm with you about further actions we can take.