Friend — We will never successfully build power for people and the planet as long as racism is embedded in our country's governance and structures. Today, you have a crucial opportunity to take meaningful action to address the legacy of slavery and the structural racism that has endured in its wake.

H.R. 40 — a bill proposed by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee that recently passed committee and is on track to come to a full House floor vote soon — would create a commission to study slavery, its lingering effects, and the discrimination African Americans have faced since slavery ended.

That discrimination has extended to the environment in which African Americans live and breathe. Black Americans are more likely than White Americans to experience air and water pollution, live near contaminated Superfund sites, face risks from climate-fueled extreme weather, and live in areas with less tree canopy and access to parks and other natural areas. The environmental injustice they continue to suffer is one manifestation of systemic racism that's embedded across American society and whose roots in no small measure can be traced back to the United States' embrace of chattel slavery.

The commission will recommend ways to educate the public of their findings and propose "appropriate remedies," which may include compensation for the ongoing harm of the institutions of slavery and Jim Crow, as well as broader policies and legislation that would help rectify racism in our country's structures and governance. There is no doubt that environmental justice will be a key focus of this commission.

In support of H.R. 40, LCV stands in solidarity with the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA) and the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) — who have been leading the fight for racial justice decades — along with a coalition of more than 300 other progressive organizations, many of whom are on the frontlines of this fight right now.

We're proud to join our voices to theirs in support of H.R. 40 — and we'll have even more power if you add your voice, too. Can you urge your representative to support H.R. 40 today? We need to hear from you.

Environmental justice, the climate crisis, and our democracy are all inextricably connected to racial justice. We can't address the climate and environmental crises, or strengthen our democracy, without also confronting structural racism — which means confronting the legacy of slavery and enacting meaningful change.

Failing to reckon with America's original sin has led to both a painful history and current deep inequities for African Americans like housing segregation, voter suppression, state-sanctioned violence, and exposure to environmental toxins, among other harms of structural racism.

With these current crises and wrenching inequities, we can't wait — we must stand in solidarity with everyone fighting for racial justice. Right now, that means encouraging Congress to vote to begin confronting the legacy of slavery, and the structural racism and anti-Blackness that threaten our democracy, our environment, our planet — and most of all, our neighbors and communities.

It's time for all of us to meet this moment: Will you tell your representative now to support H.R. 40 today?

Thank you for taking action today and continuing this fight.

Leslie Hinkson
Chief Officer for Racial Justice and Equity
League of Conservation Voters