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Environmental Justice Media

February 23, 2011


EMEAC's environmental justice media program empowers community members, youth and adult, with the skills and technological tools to tell their own stories about environmental issues in SE Michigan. These can be public service announcements, music videos, short films, digital art works or documentaries about air quality, water access and affordability, land use or food security. We also have an environmental justice media fellows program where program participants are hired by area justice organizations to meet their media needs around documentation and promotions.

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ANNUAL EMEAC GREENSCREEN FILM FESTIVAL:  Our Greenscreen Film Festival hosts students across southeast Michigan to showcase films with environmental themes. The work of these young filmmakers express what they think is most crucial to their health and to the natural environment. Some films also focus on making the world (or their school or neighborhood) more environmentally healthier. The festival is a celebration of youth voice and emerging environmentalism. The short films, created entirely by young artists and aspiring young activists, span environmental and social consciousness.

The films are judged for cinematic merit, relevance to Southeastern Michigan, and creative messaging. The panel of judges included independent directors, environmental activists, a youth activist, and a journalist. Now in its fifth year, EMEAC gets statewide inquiries about this exciting event, as well as requests for film making workshops and demonstrations year round.





DETROIT DIGITAL JUSTICE COALITION: The Detroit Digital Justice Coalition (DJC) is comprised of people and organizations in Detroit who believe that communication is a fundamental human right. We are securing that right through activities that are grounded in the digital justice principles of: access, participation, common ownership, and healthy communities. East Michigan Environmental Action Council along with 10 other grassroots organizations and independent technologists in Detroit founded the coalition which emerged out of conversations that took place during the 2009 Allied Media Conference workshop, "A Healthy Digital Ecology: Creating a Community Vision for Federal Broadband Funding." Since August 2009 we have been building a shared vision for digital justice in Detroit, strategizing around collaborative applications for federal broadband funding, and preparing for community-wide educational events that will include everything from Internet policy workshops to hands-on technology stations.

Read more about the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition here. 


Read more about Detroit Future here

DETROIT FUTURE Detroit Future consists of three programs that put the Detroit Digital Justice Principles into practice: Detroit Future Media, Detroit Future Schools and Detroit Future Youth. These three programs collaborate to tell stories about their accomplishments, challenges and realizations, with the goal of making the work transparent and replicable. The Detroit Future DECODE (documentation, evaluation and communications) team synthesizes those stories into a new narratives about Detroit and its future.

Detroit Future Media

DF Media is growing a community media economy in Detroit. Students choose to focus on either education, entrepreneurship and community organizing and select media production workshops in video, web and graphic design to integrate with their focus track. Participants graduate with the unique skill sets necessary to train other Detroiters in digital media, create their own jobs, foster collaborative forms of community wealth creation, and support media-based community organizing for a better Detroit.

Detroit Future Youth

DF Youth aims to strengthen and deepen youth social justice organizing in Detroit by partnering with youth programs that focus on social justice based education and multimedia creation, who are using digital media to transform ourselves and our communities. Our mission is to build a Detroit youth network. Our Vision is to grow a youth led movement in Detroit. Network members share a commitment to authentic youth-leadership development that fosters the future creators, problem-solvers and social change-makers our city needs.

Detroit Future Schools

DF Schools partners graduates from Detroit Future Media with K-12 teachers to design and implement digital media arts-integrated curriculum. The goal of DFS is to use digital media arts to provide the project-based learning experiences that students need to understand and shape their worlds. Participating teachers and artists receive a full year of professional development support to implement and improve their instructional practices.

Read more about Detroit Future here.

 

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Our Power


Our Power Detroit

Our Power Detroit is the locally based JUST TRANSITION work in the city of Detroit and anchored by EMEAC.  Last summer EMEAC hosting an Our Power Gathering at our Cass Corridor Commons center.  The Our Power Detroit gathering began with Directors Diana Copeland and Ife Kilimanjaro, joined by the Young Educators Alliance (YEA), setting the tone with a profound opening ceremony. Over 130 people participated in Our Power Detroit Gathering–this doesn’t even count the Detroiters who came only to roll up their sleeves for the Water Is Life Community Action! We had about 60 people from all over the country join us representing CJA member organizations and other environmental justice allies.
The weekend was full of workshops, discussions, activities and conversation. Saturday Night saw a concert headlined by the YEA, celebrating their new mixtape “Liberation Day.”  The closing day, Sunday, brought everyone together for a discussion on Just Transition.
Participants began to get a taste of Detroit’s Just Transition which includes: fighting extreme energy (marathon oil refinery, tar sands expansion, pet coke piles along Detroit river, incinerator), advocating against privatization and protecting the public commons (water crisis, transportation, public financing of private corporations, emergency management and electoral democracy) while building community resilience (1000+ urban farms and gardens, youth leadership from front line communities, solar powered street lights, bike collectives, food hubs, markets and co-ops).
One of our objectives was to host a significant gathering of youth activists in the climate justice and environmental justice movements that would help build relationships and deepen a generational analysis of organizing. We are happy to announce thatover 2/3 of gathering participants were 25 and younger. Khafre Sims-Bey of YEA remarked, “I have a feeling that I will be seeing them over and over again”.
The Water Is Life Community Action was a demonstration on Our Power in effect.  We worked with the People’s Water Board, We The People of Detroit, Detroit 2014: Building a National Network and other local change agents to help bring the city’s first Relief Station to life.
This action was inspired and spirited by Charity Hicks who transitioned after the gathering on July 8th, 2014. May her spirit live on through OUR POWER.
We cleaned and replenished the Dexter-Elmhurst Community Center and canvassed throughout the surrounding neighborhoods to let people know where they could get water supplies. Now, this building is not only home to the city’s first People Relief Station, but also to vital neighborhood programs such as Children’s Free Lunch, Senior Activities, a Swap / Re-Sale store, exercise classes, and youth recreation.
Dexter-Elmhurst Community Board President Helen Moore sends her thanks to all participants:
Dear Fellow Warriors,
I would like you to share this with the team that volunteered to clean-up and help repair our center. I have not ever seen that many youth and adult leaders work in conjunction with each other to get the job done. You did not know this, but I was at my wits end and was concerned that we would not get the job done. You inspired me and made me see that “All things are possible with God” You are my guardian angels. I cannot say enough about all the serious, dedicated young people who gave their time and effort so that the community and other young people could return to the center. We are proud of you. We are so happy to be a part of this worthwhile endeavor to be able to be the first Water Station in our city. We believe that we will be able to save lives and draw attention to the demonic deeds of those who have no regard for our families lives. May God Bless each and every one of you. Please know that you have a special place in my heart and the Dexter Community will always be grateful for your service.
Peace and Love,
Mama Helen
Our Power Detroit received helpful positive feedback from its participants’ evaluations:
  • 97% of participants felt they have a better understanding of how their work in the community connects with others to build a broader climate justice movement.
  • 91% of participants felt that their voice was heard and valued during the break-out sessions.
  • 88% of participants felt their was a good balance between plenary, panels, skill-building, networking, organizing, and direct action activities.
OPD got its highest evaluation marks in Sharing Strategies, Improving Understanding of Our Power Campaign, and Demonstrating Our Power.

Positive Feedback from Our Power Detroit Participants:

“I shared what me and my organization does and I learned how other organizations from all across the world are fighting for the same thing”
“Performed for the first time to kill self doubt and do the most radical thing we can do – love ourselves”
“Almost all activities required total group input/involvement. Well done!”
“I stepped back as an adult ally (and felt supported in doing that)”
“It was great learning experience for me as being new to EJ. I would have liked to have more small group discussions & more on youth involvement. It was very inspiring being here & learning from others. The Detroit youth are HELLA Dope!”
“I still learned a lot of skills that I know will carry on with me that will help me when I go back home and find out the issues in my community & join in the movement in my community”


     

    Environmental Justice


    EMEAC holds the Environmental Justice Principles and Principles of Working Together at the core of our work.

    Principles of Environmental Justice

    (Printable PDF version)
    Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since then, The Principles have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice.

    PREAMBLE

    WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice:
    1) Environmental Justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.
    2) Environmental Justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.
    3) Environmental Justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things.
    4) Environmental Justice calls for universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction, production and disposal of toxic/hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water, and food.
    5) Environmental Justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self-determination of all peoples.
    6) Environmental Justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the point of production.
    7) Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.
    8) Environmental Justice affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy work environment without being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from environmental hazards.
    9) Environmental Justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care.
    10) Environmental Justice considers governmental acts of environmental injustice a violation of international law, the Universal Declaration On Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on Genocide.
    11) Environmental Justice must recognize a special legal and natural relationship of Native Peoples to the U.S. government through treaties, agreements, compacts, and covenants affirming sovereignty and self-determination.
    12) Environmental Justice affirms the need for urban and rural ecological policies to clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas in balance with nature, honoring the cultural integrity of all our communities, and provided fair access for all to the full range of resources.
    13) Environmental Justice calls for the strict enforcement of principles of informed consent, and a halt to the testing of experimental reproductive and medical procedures and vaccinations on people of color.
    14) Environmental Justice opposes the destructive operations of multi-national corporations.
    15) Environmental Justice opposes military occupation, repression and exploitation of lands, peoples and cultures, and other life forms.
    16) Environmental Justice calls for the education of present and future generations which emphasizes social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives.
    17) Environmental Justice requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer choices to consume as little of Mother Earth's resources and to produce as little waste as possible; and make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our lifestyles to ensure the health of the natural world for present and future generations.

    The Proceedings to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit are available from the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, 475 Riverside Dr. Suite 1950, New York, NY 10115.
    Another source of information is the Environmental Justice Resource Center (EJRC) at Clark Atlanta University.
    Return to the Environmental Justice / Environmental Racism Homepage
    Last modified: 6 April 1996
    People of Color Environmental Justice “Principles of Working Together”
    _______________________________________________________________

    PREAMBLE

    “WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational [, multiethnic] People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives [and to support traditional cultural economics] which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and [, water, air, ] land and the genocide of our peoples, to affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice.”

    PRINCIPLE ONE: PURPOSE
    • The Principles of Working Together uphold the Principles of Environmental Justice and to eradicate environmental racism in our communities.
    • The Principles of Working Together require local and regional empowered partnerships, inclusive of all.
    • The Principles of Working Together call for continued influence on public policy to protect and sustain Mother Earth and our communities and also honor past promises and make amends for past injustices.
    PRINCIPLE TWO: CORE VALUES
    • The Principles of Working Together commit us to working from the ground up, beginning with all grassroots workers, organizers and activists. We do not want to forget the struggle of the grassroots workers. This begins with all grassroots workers, organizers and activists.
    • The Principles of Working Together recognize traditional knowledge and uphold the intellectual property rights of all peoples of color and Indigenous peoples.
    • The Principles of Working Together reaffirm that as people of color we speak for ourselves. We have not chosen our struggle, we work together to overcome our common barriers, and resist our common foes.
    • The Principles of Working Together bridge the gap among various levels of the movement through effective communication and strategic networking.
    • The Principles of Working Together affirm the youth as full members in the environmental justice movement. As such, we commit resources to train and educate young people to sustain the groups and the movement into the future.
    PRINCIPLE THREE: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

    • The Principles of Working Together recognize that we need each other and we are stronger with each other. This Principle requires participation at every level without barriers and that the power of the movement is shared at every level.
    • The Principles of Working Together require
    • members to cooperate with harmony, respect and trust—it must be genuine and sustained relationship- building. This demands cultural and language sensitivity.
    • The Principles of Working Together demand grassroots workers, organizers and activists set their own priorities when working with other professionals and institutions.
    • The Principles of Working Together recognize that community organizations have expertise and knowledge. Community organizations should seek out opportunities to work in partnerships with academic institutions, other grassroots organizations and environmental justice lawyers to build capacity through the resources of these entities.

    PRINCIPLE FOUR: ADDRESSING DIFFERENCES

    • The Principles of Working Together require affirmation of the value in diversity and the rejection of any form of racism, discrimination and oppression. To support each other completely, we must learn about our different cultural and political histories so that we can completely support each other in our movement inclusive of ages, classes, immigrants, indigenous peoples, undocumented workers, farm workers, genders, sexual orientations and education differences.
    • The Principles of Working Together require respect, cultural sensitivity, patience, time and a willingness to understand each other and a mutual sharing of knowledge.
    • The Principles of Working Together affirm the value in our diversity. If English is not the primary language, there must be effective translation for all participants.
    PRINCIPLE FIVE: LEADERSHIP

    • The Principles of Working Together demand shared power, community service, cooperation, and open and honest communication.
    • The Principles of Working Together demand that people from the outside should not come in and think that there is no leadership in the grassroots community. The people in the community should lead their own community and create legacy by teaching young people to be leaders.
    • The Principles of Working Together demand that people from grassroots organizations should lead the environmental justice movement.
    • The Principles of Working Together demand accountability to the people, responsibility to complete required work, maintain healthy partnerships with all groups.

    PRINCIPLE SIX: PARTICIPATION

    • The Principles of Working Together demand cultural sensitivity. This requires patience and time for each group to express their concerns and their concerns should be heard.
    • The Principles of Working Together require a culturally appropriate process.
    • The Principles of Working Together have a commitment to changing the process when the process is not meeting the needs of the people. The changes should be informed by the people’s timely feedback and evaluation.

    PRINCIPLE SEVEN: RESOLVING CONFLICTS

    • The Principles of Working Together encourage respectful discussion of our differences, willingness to understand, and the exploration of best possible solutions.
    • The Principles of Working Together require that we learn and strengthen our cross-cultural communication skills so that we can develop effective and creative problem-solving skills. This Principle promotes respectful listening and dialogue.
    • The Principles of Working Together affirm the value in learning strengthening mediation skills in diverse socio-economic and multicultural settings.
    PRINCIPLE EIGHT: FUNDRAISING

    • The Principles of Working Together recognize the need for expanding sustainable community based avenues for raising funds, such as building a donor base, membership dues, etc.
    • The Principles of Working Together oppose funding from any organization impacting people of color and indigenous communities. In addition, the Principles oppose funding from any organization that is the current target of active boycotts, or other campaign activity generated by our allies.
    • The Principles of Working Together encourage
    • larger environmental justice organizations to help smaller, emerging environmental justice organizations gain access to funding resources. We encourage the sharing of funding resources and information with other organizations in need.

    PRINCIPLE NINE: ACCOUNTABILITY
    The Principles of Working Together encourage all partners to abide by the shared agreements, including, but not limited to, oral and written agreements. Any changes or developments to agreements/actions need to be communicated to all who are affected and agreed upon.
    The Principles of Working Together encourage periodic evaluation and review of process to ensure accountability among all partners. Any violation of these agreements or any unprincipled actions that violate the EJ principles, either:
    1. Must attempt to be resolved among the partners
    2. Will end the partnership if not resolved AND
    3. Will be raised to the larger EJ community
    page2image39656
    Respectfully submitted by the Principles of Working Together Working Group
    October 26, 2002
    “Principles of Working Together”
    Adopted at the
    Second People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit Washington, D.C.
    October 26, 2002
    This and other environmental justice documents can be downloaded from: www.ejnet.org/ej/ 

     

    Community Media Screenings

    February 4, 2011

    Community screening of “13 in the Hole” documentary April 25 at Redford Branch Library

    April 6, 2012 Leave a Comment
    Watch the Trailer
    DETROIT – A special community screening of the documentary “13 in the Hole: A Story of Detroit's 48217” will take place on April 25 from 5:30 pm to 7:45 pm at the Redford Branch Library located at 21200 Grand River. The documentary takes a look at how residents on the blocks intersecting Pleasant and Leibold Streets were affected over a two-year period by Marathon Oil's daily shipping of over 3,000,000 gallons of waste water from its newly expanded tar sands oil refining facility, through the public water main running under Pleasant Street and to Detroit's Waste Water Treatment facility.
    The documentary focuses on an area of 48217 called “The Hole” where 13 residents who were left behind following Marathon's 2009 buyout of the nearby Liddesdale block – making way for expansion of the Waste Water Treatment Plant's Combined Sewerage Overflow facility – continued to suffer from toxic gases identical to the ones used in the tar sands refinery process suddenly emanating from their basements. Caught directly between Marathon's new tar sands refinery and the city's new CSO, two of the 13 residents – Regina Smith and Adrienne Crawford – tell their stories about growing up in The Hole only to find themselves ignored and under siege when they joined other community members in protesting being literally poisoned in their own homes.
    Mrs. Regina Smith resident of The Hole
    “Some of the most important messages of the documentary are the clear connections that are made,” said Dr. Angela Allen, who worked on the project as part of the Detroit Future Media Workshops along side Dr. Conja Wright, Rhonda Anderson of the Detroit Seirra Club's Environmental Justice Office and EMEAC's ReMedia Program Coordinator Patrick Geans-Ali. “First, no one should underestimate the experience of a community resident and investment in community residents should be the first focus of any sustainable revitalization plan, including the advocacy and mobilization of residents in nearby communities.
    “Second, that the knowledge that just one EPA regional staff person can have that impacts the ability of a neighborhood to gain justice. Third, all politics are local. What the conversations are here will be the same that will take place in Wiliston, North Dakota, in communities engaging fracking and other environmental justice impact policies shared by city, state, and federal engagement.”
    With most authorities ignoring their initial complaints, residents of The Hole turned to the Sierra Club's Anderson and 48217 community activists like Theresa Landrum, Dr. Delores Leonard and Vincent Martin among others for support. The citizen-led movement eventually had to enlist the services of the environmental watchdog group Global Community Monitoring to prove their claims and win some measure of support from local media and political leaders. Even with that, Marathon has yet to reach an agreement to resettle many of the remaining residents of The Hole.
    Detroit's 48217 zip code sits along the city's industrial corridor and was found to be the most polluted area in the state of Michigan and the third most polluted by a University of Michigan study. Residents suffer from disproportionately high levels of a complete range of health problems as a result. The documentary takes a look at one acute crisis situation as a means of bringing greater awareness to the environmental health hazards facing all of Southwest Detroit – if not the city as a whole.
    “The most important part of working on the documentary for me was two-fold: one, listening to fellow activists and learning from them to be a part of putting this very important and timely story together,” said Dr. Allen. “Second, building the story from the perspective of the individual residents and connecting it to the larger local, domestic and international context is key. That's been my goal over 17 years of community development work, and it was fulfilling and rewarding to be a part of this project because there is so much more to be done.”
    The documentary, which is still very much a work in progress, was produced as part of the inaugural Detroit Future Media workshops. The producers are hoping to get community feedback in hopes of making the project as historically accurate and socially responsible as possible.
    “What I'm most looking forward to about the upcoming community screenings is the response from neighborhood residents who may be facing similar environmental and business relationship issues within their neighborhoods,” Dr. Allen said. “I think this is a great time to weave together stories across Detroit neighborhoods so business owners (corporate and small business) as well as city policy makers get a strong and clear picture from residents that the story of just a few residents in one neighborhood is representative of the disinvestment of an entire major metropolitian city. Investing in even just a few residents means investing in the quality of life of an entire major metropolitian city. It's about time community respect was honored.”

    Youth Food Justice Taskforce launches at North End Garden

    December 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
    Ms. Sheila Johnson, Anthony Grimmett, Roger Boy
    and EugeneMoore talk with community members
    at the launch of the Youth Food Justice Taskforce
    DETROIT -- The Detroit Youth Food Justice Taskforce officially launched on November 6 with a special work day event at the Moore Community Garden in Detroit’s North End neighborhood. Youth Food Justice Taskforce members were joined by the garden’s founder, Eugene Moore, other community members  and youth from the Five Elements Gallery in hopes of revitalizing a neglected community resource. 

    “Of course we are just getting started,” said North End resident and co-founder of the Youth Food Justice Taskforce Anthony Grimmett.  “This is a time for learning before we actually go out and start making moves in terms of food justice. I’m really excited to get out and to do as much as I possibly can.”

    Grimmett, EMEAC Volunteer of the Quarter Roger Boyd and DeRaina Stinson are spearheading EMEAC’s foray into developing youth leadership in the city’s food justice work. All three are on EMEAC’s Young Educators Alliance (YEA) Team and will be working on upcoming events like the YEA Team’s Feed One/Teach One event focusing on organizing a community response to the recently enacted public assistance cut offs. The group has also worked to put together a series of Family Dinner Night events with local schools like Palmer Park Academy and Nsoroma Institute. 

    Eugene Moore of the Moore Community Garden
    “They are really eager to take the lead and getting other young people to be a part of this organization,” said Sanaa Nia-Joy of EMEAC’s Greener Schools Program. “EMEAC is building up the foundation for the youth food justice taskforce. Once we have the foundational principles together and start deconstructing the Farm Bill, we’ll focus on developing a logo and trying to establish an online presence. Then, I think we will get more people in.”

    During the launch the group worked on building a catch basin for the garden, putting the produce to bed for the winter and preparing the soil for the spring growing season. Their plan is to once again turn the garden into a valuable community resource by increasing the productivity of the garden and enlisting community members toparticipate in it’s upkeep. 

    If all goes well, the group envisions the garden being a source of fresh produce for the local food pantry, The Storehouse of Hope. 

    “The key thing was we focused on becoming more rooted to the Earth in that space where the garden is located,” Sanaa said. “We’ve put work into the community garden. We’ve put in a water catchment system, which is almost completed. We’ve put the garden to bed and we hope to expand the garden next spring to supply vegetables for the Storehouse of Hope. It’s just a few blocks from the garden.


    Sanaa Nia Joy YFJTF EMEAC liason
    “It went really well. I feel like it’s still in the process of jelling. We had the two young men that started this off with EMEAC and then the (Five Elements Gallery) came in with a couple of other youth. Our plan is to get the flyer out by December – especially to the Detroit Future Youth members that may be interested in participating. There were a lot of bright ideas that came out of the meeting with myself, Anthony and Roger. They are both artistic and they plan on creating somethings  for the Youth Food Justice Taskforce as an earned income strategy.”

    “Maybe that’s something they can set up as a cooperative. They’ll have the pride of making money from something they would have created that takes food justice from an adult perspective to a youth perspective. That could really let them put their mark on it which is really what youth leadership development is about. We want to create an environment where young people can thrive by using their gifts and talents in a way that furthers the mission.”

    Food Justice Taskforce debuts ‘Cook Eat Talk’ documentary and zine

    August 18, 2011 Leave a Comment


    DETROIT – Over 60 community members turned out to the historic Eastern Market on August 17 for the Detroit Food Justice Taskforce’s community screening of the “Cook Eat Talk” documentary and Cook Zine. Both the documentary and the brochure chronicle the work of the DFJT during the first-year planning phase of their work and leading up to a series of community engagement sessions aimed at addressing food security, sovereignty and justice issues in the future.
    “I was very pleased with the number of folks that turned out – old faces and new,” said DFJT Administrator and EMEAC Associate Director Lottie Spady. “That really reflects the relationship building we’ve been doing over the past year and beyond.”
    The screening was held at Shed No. 5 at Eastern Market. Community members enjoyed special food and beverages provided by DFJT Member, Peoples Kitchen Detroit. Peoples Kitchen also distributed copies of the latest Cook Eat Talk zine – version 3.0. The zine serves as a companion piece to the documentary and not only tells the story of the Food Justice Taskforce in words and stills from the documentary but also includes health conscious recipes from the community members and lists the 10 principles of food sovereignty.
    “We wanted to share the story of the Food Justice Task Force and lift up some of the strategies that we’ve learned along the way,” said DFJT Coordinator Gregg Newsome of the Peoples Kitchen. “Cook Eat Talk is a community gathering facilitated and supported by Food Justice Task Force partners. Theses gatherings share a new strategy for mindful, respectful and mutually beneficial community engagement.
    “For me, the emergent, non-prescribed format, was quite significant. I think that this was facilitated by our decision to embrace and celebrate each community’s invisible capital and honor their specific interests and self-identified needs.  Rather than entering communities with a cookie cutter program, Cook Eat Talk offers menus, choices and has a flexibility that communities and families need in order to establish a healthy relationship with food.”
    Overall, DFJT members said they were pleased with the feedback from community members that attended the screening and look forward to the next phase of their work.
    “I think they were received extremely well as seen by the number of peole that purchased zines,” Spady said. “We really wanted to make the zine assessable to everyone,
    Some of the input that I got from the people that saw the documentary said that it brought the work to life better than a written report ever could. So, I was really pleased with how things went overall.
    “Based on the community’s input gathered at each Cook Eat Talk session, the taskforce will be expanding into a network of community food justice hubs that will work on behalf of each community. We’re looking forward to that process and providing training and support to each of the local communities.”

     

    Green Screen 2011

    5E, Nsoroma take home top honors at 2011 Green Screen Youth Film Festival

    December 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
    Representatives of Nsoroma Institute, Five Elements
    Gallery and the Ruth Ellis Center receive their awards
    following Green Screen V

    DETROIT -- Approximately 200 community members turned out to attend EMEAC’s Fifth Annual Green Screen Youth Environmental Film Festival on November 17 inside the General Motors Theater of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. “The Launch of the Detroit Youth Food Justice Taskforce” presented by The Five Elements Gallery took home top honors while “The Defenders,” presented by the Ashante Moja Class of Nsoroma Institute, about community members waging a legal campaign against the Detroit Incinerator took home second place honors. 

    “We had a record number of supporters for this year's Green Screen and for that we are extremely grateful,” said EMEAC Associate Director Lottie Spady. “This was a very exciting Green Screen as we were celebrating its 5th anniversary which is a milestone of sorts! The decision to hold it at the Charles H Wright Museum of African American History reflected our commitment to supporting Detroit and was exciting for the young people to have their work showcased in such an elegant setting. From the responses I got, Green Screen V was a hit for youth and adults alike.”

    EMEAC's Lottie Spady, left, and Piper Carter address
    the Green Screen audience
    Also winning awards during Green Screen V were the Ruth Ellis Center for “Not Alone and Our Shoes” in the Best Environmental Justice Documentary Media category about anti-bullying efforts on behalf of Lesbian Bi-sexual Gay Trans-gender and Queer youth. EMEAC’s Young Educators Alliance won the Innovative Media EJ Media Award for “The Liquor Store and the Green Pepper” about access to quality food outlets in Detroit. The Most Creative Food Justice Music Video went to The Heru Organization and Five Elements Gallery featuring the Gardening Activism Media and Education Summer Camp for “Bootleg Food.” The Inter-Generational Media Award went to the Palmer Park Academy Environmental Lab for their oral histories project featuring the Gardening Angels of Hannan House. 

    Detroit Summer’s LAMP Project won the Innovative Environmental Solutions Category for “Another Detroit is Happening.” The Innovative Food Justice Media category was won by The Lathrup Village Children's Garden 4H and Video Club  for “Green Fridays” on the subject of healthy eating choices. Project Achieve’s “Green Screen Project” on relandscaping Southwest Detroit won for Best Innovative Environmental Justice Media. The Innovative Environmental Media Solutions and Best Youth Artistic Approach to EJ Media went to Nosroma Institute for “The Pollution Haters,” “The Pollution King,” “From the Present to the Past,” and “Stop Polluting My Earth!” The Nsoroma MC’s also won the Best Environmental Justice Video for “Pollution! Solution! Revolution!” which was also themed around the Detroit Incinerator. 
    The Defenders

    “I know the group Zero Waste Detroit was very excited to see so much youth media around the incinerator and it was very encouraging to see the work being undertaken by Project Achieve to build awareness around environmental justice issues in River Rouge,” Spady said. The Lathrup Village Children's Garden 4H and Video Club never disappoints, and their entry, Green Fridays, which ‘turned over a new leaf’ for school lunches was well received. 

    “It was very exciting to see how our young people express themselves through music and song and the music video category was rocking with all hands in the air to Bootleg Food and Pollution! Solution! Revolution! But what I feel is one of the key evolutions of Green Screen is the definition of ‘environment’ and recognizing that it is all of the elements that comprise where you live, work, play, and learn and your ability to be safe, happy, and healthy there. The entries from Ruth Ellis Center reflecting the challenges LGBTQ youth face around bullying really shared a timely and sensitive look at safety as environment.”

    Sponsors for the 2011 Green Screen V event were Alldrink, Allied Media Projects, Avalon Bakery, Barnes & Noble College WSU Campus, Boggs Center, Building A Movement, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit Food Policy Council, Detroit Future Youth Network, Earthworks Urban Farms and Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Great Lakes Bioneers, Gregg Newsome, Detroit City Council Member Kenneth Cockrel Jr and the Detroit City Council Green Task Force, Hugh McDiarmid, IHM Sisters of Monroe Michigan, John King Used and Rare Books, Kathryn Lynch Underwood, Laura Lein, Lou Novak, Marwil Bookstore, Inc, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Mike Spencer, Motor City Brewery, People's Community Kitchen Detroit, Project South, Robinson Oil Company, Inc, Starbucks, Sugar Law Center, WSU Blimpie, WSU La Pita Mediterranean and Zero Waste Detroit. Together these individuals, organizations and businesses donated over $2,400 to support EMEAC’s environmental justice work in Southeastern Michigan. 

    The Nsoroma MC's Michael, Antonio and Sean
    in Pollution Solution Revolution!
    Having established Green Screen as a Detroit-based event, EMEAC plans to host next year’s youth film festival inside the David Blair Grassroots Community Theater at EMEAC’s new home inside the Cass Corridor Community Commons, formerly the First Unitarian Universalist Church, at the corner of Forest and Cass Avenue. The facility is currently being refurbished under the direction of long-time Detroit cultural arts organizer Oya Amakisi, who has organized the annual Detroit Women of Color Film Festival and run the Detroit Grassroots Community Arts Theater. 

    “By Green Screen VI, we will be housed in the David Blair Grassroots Community Theater in the Cass Corridor Commons. Green Screen will have landed so to speak,”  Spady said. “I see that leading to more community screenings throughout the year as well. Our media production workshops keep growing in reach so, I look forward to having at least one entry for each of our collaborative partner workshops next year!”

     

    Wish List

    February 3, 2011

    EMEAC has relocated into our new home at the Cass Corridor Commons inside the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 4605 Cass Avenue. Because of the growth of EMEAC and our various programs we have growing needs for extra supplies and equipment. If you have, can donate, or know of someone with the following items requested by our program coordinators, please help us out! To make a arrangements call Diana at (c) 313-399-4065 or (w) 313-556-1702 x700.