Raya Salter not too long ago made headlines when a Republican lawmaker who allies himself with the fossil gas trade launched an offensive tirade at Salter as a Black lady whereas she testified earlier than Congress concerning the local weather disaster.
Salter, an power justice lawyer and local weather professional, stood her floor as Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) launched an assault on her that was laced with racism and misogyny throughout a Home Oversight Committee listening to on Sept. 15 on the oil trade’s lack of accountability within the local weather disaster. As Salter implored the committee that the true resolution is to transition away from fossil fuels, Higgins yelled questions that supported petrochemicals and used disrespectful language towards the professional.
“My good woman, I’m making an attempt to provide the ground, boo,” Higgins yelled over her as she tried to reply his open-ended questions. Whereas “boo” is an informal time period of endearment within the Black group, it may be offensive, racist and misogynistic when used sarcastically, particularly on this occasion by a white man ready of energy.
Higgins continued disrespecting Salter, calling her a “younger woman” who has a “lot of noise.” The congressman later tweeted concerning the trade, calling the professional an “unhinged local weather activist.”
Simply over every week after the incident, Salter spoke with HuffPost concerning the trade and what she desires the general public to remove from it. The local weather professional mentioned that whereas she expects pointed questions from lawmakers who don’t share the identical views and are searching for a soundbite, she was not anticipating the kind of disrespect she acquired from Higgins.
“We take care of these little microaggressions on a regular basis, so my first intuition was to be like, ‘ what, no matter. I'm good. Hold it stepping, I don't care,’” she mentioned. “So I'm good ― and it wasn’t proper. And this isn't what girls, femmes, anybody ought to anticipate once they go to do one thing, like testify earlier than our elected officers.”
Girls ― significantly girls of colour ― have an added strain to “act sturdy” and be compliant within the face of harassment and abuse, in an effort to attempt to keep away from being stereotyped as offended or emotional. Whereas they usually get applauded from these exterior the group for being sturdy, Black and brown girls want that didn’t at all times need to be the case.
“I believe we do plenty of that, the place we push down after we would possibly truly be harm. We push apart disrespect and simply act prefer it’s not bothering us,” Salter mentioned. “But it surely actually is a part of that broader sample of parents for who it’s of their playbook to chip away at our confidence and name us incompetent, as a result of they don’t need us to face in our energy and say what we wish to say in opposition to them.”
In accordance with Salter, the Home listening to was not the primary time she’s skilled patronizing conduct whereas speaking about local weather and environmental racism as a Black professional. Out of practically two dozen folks, Salter is the one lady of colour on the New York State Local weather Motion Council, and was the one Black particular person till not too long ago.
“We’re simply not on the desk as specialists fairly often, you understand, and so we’re nearly at all times on this place of being the one one or one in all only a few,” she mentioned. “We’re in these areas the place … there’s little or no illustration and we could be the just one, and also you’re simply not seen historically as being a pacesetter and an professional on this discipline ― however folks have by no means seen leaders and specialists appear to be you.”
Regardless of the incident going viral, Salter mentioned she didn’t really feel just like the trade overshadowed the necessary local weather points she was invited to come back discuss within the first place, like environmental racism. The professional acknowledged experiencing some security threats within the rapid aftermath ― significantly after Fox Information host Tucker Carlson blasted her on his present ― however that almost all of the response to her testimony has been very optimistic.
Throughout Salter’s trade with Higgins, the local weather professional slammed the lawmaker for allying himself with poisonous petrochemical services which might be killing Black and brown folks all through Louisiana. The state is house to the well-known “Most cancers Alley,” an 85-mile stretch of land alongside the Mississippi River that has over 150 petrochemical crops.
“The truth that Higgins is from Louisiana may be very, essential and this [exchange] by no means would have occurred this fashion if he hadn’t been,” Salter advised HuffPost. “This clown … he doesn’t have a leg to face on. And I advised him about himself, which is that the fossil gas trade that owns his state is destroying the earth. He isn't an environmentalist. He's purchased and paid for, and that’s simply what that's.”
Salter mentioned that points plaguing Higgins’ house state are additionally impacting Black and brown communities throughout the area, the most recent examples being the water disaster in Jackson, Mississippi, and Hurricane Fiona destroying already crumbling infrastructure in Puerto Rico, the place the fossil gas trade has managed to efficiently push for a gasoline pipeline.
“At each level alongside the chain are girls and youngsters,” she mentioned. “Girls and youngsters of colour, who're most impacted and most susceptible each time.”
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