As we move through March and approach the close of the first quarter, we find ourselves reflecting on profound loss and lasting legacy. We lost two of the brightest beacons of light in our generations-long struggle for equality. The legacies they built are tremendous. So is the pain of their absence. Dr. Norman C. Francis and Rev. Jesse Jackson spent their lives altering the trajectory of not only Black history, but of American democracy.
Two Legacies of Leadership
Both pulled up chairs to the table for people they said didn’t belong: one for our people in academia so they could learn to lead and understand the science; the other for everyday people to be heard in the halls of power. To say their names together is to see the full arc of our struggle: the quiet, determined builder and the bold, unafraid truth-teller. In different, yet critical ways, these two individuals helped breathe life into the very idea of environmental justice. Dr. Francis through strategic investments and unwavering dedication to education, and Rev. Jesse Jackson through his insistence that environmental justice be understood as a core part of the struggle for civil rights.
Under the brilliant leadership of Dr. Francis, Xavier University of Louisiana welcomed the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice onto its campus and allowed it to grow there for 15 years. Far from a symbolic gesture, this was a declaration that frontline Black communities deserve world-class institutions fighting with them and for them. Reverend Jesse Jackson helped carry that same moral claim onto the national stage, linking pollution, poverty, and political exclusion to the broader fight for justice. He was present at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991, the gathering that produced the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice and reframed the very definition of environment to include where our communities live, work, learn, and pray.
Now, It’s Up to Us
This is a generational loss; a moment in history that energizes us in our charge to continue this fight with all the dignity, grace, data, partnership, and strength we’ve got because there’s still much to do.
With determination,
Dr. Beverly L Wright
Founder and Executive Director
Deep South Center for Environmental Justic
