Statement on Racism

The ECD's Anti-Racism Statement

Anti-Racism Statement from the officers of NCA’s Environmental Communication Division:

In response to historic and ongoing systemic institutional violence against communities of color and particularly African American and Black communities in the US--most recently brought to international attention by the recent slaying of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, among others--the officers of the National Communication Association Environmental Communication Division voice our commitment to anti-racism. Environmental Communication is grounded not only in a crisis discipline ethic to intervene in unsustainable ways of living, but also in an ethics of care, which is a duty to honor the myriad relations that constitute our interconnected and reciprocal relations. The scholars, teachers, and practitioners of our field embody a tradition of critiquing structural inequity and engaging the complicated intersections of environmental degradation and oppression. Practicing the dual ethics of our field requires that we address the systemic racism that perpetuates and exacerbates poverty, food insecurity, health disparities, labor and wage precarity, and many other forms of oppression, as well as uplift and highlight solutions to heal, grow, rectify, and resist. We stand in solidarity with those who experience systemic violence. Our division is committed to amplifying scholars who are People of Color, people who are colonized, people living in the Global South, LGBTQI+ individuals, people with disabilities, religious groups, women, and those who intersect or represent other marginalized communities. In our own division, we have been engaging in a conversation about the norms and violences of white supremacy since 2019. We dedicated our most recent business meeting to discussing barriers and solutions. In the months since, we have continued these conversations, reaffirming our commitment to diversity and inclusion by explicitly expanding the scope of our outreach committee, working towards new fundraising possibilities, and making our own awards process more transparent. We recommit to our 2019 pledge to build academic spaces and systems that are fair, equal, diverse, and inclusive for more just and sustainable organizations. In making this public statement, we make ourselves accountable to everyone reading it. Please hold us accountable, suggest further actions, and join in this work with us.

In solidarity,

Dr. Kathleen P. Hunt, President

NCA ECD Executive Board