BSEC Creates An Environmental Conference
After attending environmental conferences from Berkeley to Boston with several stops in between. It became quite apparent that while so much was being done and said, to show us what was needed for us to save the planet and all of its species, very little was being said or done to addresses the fact that few if any people of color were involved. Even after several noted persons and highly read publications address the subject, other than including a person of color as part of the agenda itself, the environmental movement in America is still in need of a way to make the lack of people of color an agenda item. It was that factor, along with a need to reach people of color that caused the founder of Building A Sustainable Earth Community, to return to Kansas City, Kansas from a conference in Berkeley, determine to make the people of color issue the reason or theme for a conference.
As a person of color, the founder refused to allow anyone else to see this concern as his or her duty to solve. He took full responsibility as a member of the environmental movement, to do whatever was necessary to see that the issue received the attention it was due. That my friend was the thinking behind the formation of BSEC, and the eventual creation of the annual Breaking The Silence Conference in Kansas City, Kansas.
What we wanted was a place where for once in our lives we could hear people (especially environmental people) being for real about their racial feelings and connotations. Regardless of what you may think, we who are studying what it will take to save our environment know full well it will require inclusiveness of all peoples regardless of ethnic backgrounds.
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