environmental-racism

Surrounded by busy New Yorkers on their determined walks, I, a somewhat-awkward Asian guy holding a petition sheet and a “YANG FOR NEW YORK” sign shout out, “If you’re a registered Democrat in the city, you can sign on this sheet to get Andrew on the mayoral primary ballot!” My shouts rarely receive a response. Most of the time, I either endure painful silence, or worse, an accusatory frown that makes me feel self-conscious about being Chinese. An inner voice echoes in my head: “Will I get beat up?”

One Instagram post, podcast, and TikTok, at a time, Lauren Ritchie, CC ’22, is on a mission to redefine sustainability, amplify marginalized voices, and gain traction for an inclusive climate action movement.

To my beloved Barnard classmates,

In response to claims that Harlem is overburdened by drug-addiction rates and overdoses, a methadone clinic is being built on 145th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in West Harlem. However, community members argue that this clinic is not needed in the area.

High air pollution rates. Toxic waste plants. High temperatures. These are only some of the issues that West Harlem residents face as a result of the ever-worsening climate crisis, coupled with systemic neglect on the part of government officials, the New York City Housing Authority, and the disproportionate number of pollutant-producing entities in the area.

On June 4, 1914, Columbia unveiled a statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of the Graduate School of Journalism. A gift “to the city” from Joseph Pulitzer—the namesake of the school and the esteemed prize in literary arts—the statue represented, to University President Nicholas Murray Butler, the perfect ideological and spatial complement to the statue of alumnus Alexander Hamilton, which was unveiled in 1908.

Against the advice of almost every Black woman I know, I decided to watch Tyler Perry’s reprehensible adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf this week. While Shange honestly depicts the struggles women of color face when searching for community, self-love, and healing, Perry focuses on the violence often inflicted on these women for no reason other than to add to the drama of the film.

I did not watch “Lady Bird” until the end of my senior year of high school, months after it came out. I distinctly remember talking about it during lunch with some of my classmates. Many of them said the plot of the movie felt true to our senior year experiences (I definitely related to the strained relationship between Lady Bird and her mom). Overall, it was a pretty “OK” movie - a solid three star rating on Letterboxd, maybe 3.5 if you’re feeling particularly emotional when you watch it.