This guest post was written by community organizer and former Rutgers-Camden adjunct professor Tom Knoche. I’m honored Tom reached out to me with this piece, and would encourage those unfamiliar with his work to check out his book: Common Sense for Camden.
After the Friends of Cooper River Park West (FCRPW) protest at the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) Board meeting on June 17, both Commissioner Jeff Nash and Chair Ryan Boyer denied the protesters’ charge that the neglect in opening Cooper River Park West involves racial discrimination and political dysfunction. According to the Courier-Post coverage (6/18/2015), Nash called the accusations not only false, but offensive, and claimed that the delay “has nothing to do with politics.”
Their denial exemplifies behavior that goes a long way toward explaining why racial inequality is still a critical issue facing our society.
First, they need to be reminded that environemntal racism is a well-documented demon. Considerable federal policy has been implemented to address it, starting back in the 1980s. Any time people of color experience consistently worse environmental conditions than others, environmental racism is at play. Just like clean air and water, access to adequate open space in urban areas is a significant contributor to good health and quality of life. Camden is severely underserved.
Second, they need to be reminded that the same group of politicians has been in control of Camden City and County since the land was cleared for the park (1999-2000) and when the DRPA, the City, and the County signed the Memorandum of Agreement (2001) mandating that the land on the north side of Cooper River between Route 130 and the Hess gas station be a park. They shift around the positions that they hold, but the names are the same, and they are all Norcross Democrats.
Good leaders understand that they must take advantage of all opportunities to mitigate and prevent racial injustice, including environmental racism. In this case, our leaders should have made improving and opening Cooper River Park west of Route 130 a priority back in 2001. Instead they made the portion of Cooper River Park east of 130 a priority. They ignored the portion west of Route 130 for over ten years, until citizens made an issue of their neglect.
Denial precludes progress and recovery. The response protesters should have heard from Chair Ryan and Commissioner Nash might have been as follows. Cooper River Park West provides an opportunity to advance environmental justice. We have not made it a priority, as we should have, and we will do everything in our power to rectify the injustice.
The lives of all people of color do matter, and the #blacklivesmatter movement has reminded us that we have a long way to go to achieve racial equality. Overcoming denial is the first step toward recovery and justice.
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Just wanted to pass this comment from Facebook along:
This is a nice plan; however, I’ve never been convinced that this is the priority for the community that it is for those who are pushing for it. Often, the activists in favor of this compare this park to the money put into the Cooper River Park, which is bordered by 5 towns, including Camden and which provides use to residents throughout the Camden, including many in Camden-as well as bringing in the revenue from regattas. As a matter of fact, most of my former students spoke regularly of going to that park.
That’s not to say I don’t support this or don’t think it’s important, but I don’t know that it’s quite the injustice that the Friends of Cooper River Park West seem to state it is-particularly compared to the many more egregious injustices throughout the City.