Rev.
Lennox Yearwood Jr. cleared the air about pollution and sustainable existence
when he spoke recently at the Green Festival.
The
two-day event celebrating a decade of providing eco-friendly solutions to
everyday life was held at McCormick Place earlier this month.
Yearwood
is the president of the Washington, D.C.-based Hip Hop Caucus, and has traveled
the country discussing the need for renewable energy and clean air.
May is
Asthma Awareness Month, and Yearwood remarked how staggering asthma rates
reached the local level.
"In
Chicago, 28 percent of the people with asthma reported having breathing
problems once a week," he said. "Clean air in America should not be
something that is only for a select few. Clean air in America is a standard
that everybody should have."
According
to the American Lung Association’s 2011 State of the Air report, Cook County
rated a grade of ‘F’ – failing – for it’s air quality. Nearby Will and DuPage
Counties received ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades, respectively. The association makes a
direct correlation between air quality and asthma.
Nine
million U.S. children under 18 have been diagnosed with asthma at some point in
their lifetime. The disease sends over 200,000 people to the emergency room
each year, and over 10.5 million people have to visit their physician annually
because of asthma, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology.
Further,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that while 1 in 10
children, overall, have asthma, for African American children it is far worse
as 1 in 6 have the respiratory.
“The fact
that people cannot breathe clean air is un-American,” said Yearwood. “Illness and death from dirty air among
our most vulnerable populations – children and the elderly, particularly in
poor communities – is a direct assault on American values of life, liberty and
pursuit of happiness.
Chicago,
one of our greatest American cities, deserves better.”
Asthma
is but one of the diseases and conditions that Yearwood and his organization
shine the spotlight on. This year, the Hip Hop Caucus created the 1 Planet 1
Voice poverty and pollution campaign, which addresses the effects pollution and
environmental damage have on low-income communities.
During
his 30-minute speech at McCormick Place, the Howard University (Washington,
D.C.) divinity school alumnus made plain why the Green movement should be an
all-inclusive one.
"We're
all in this planet together. You would think that the issue of saving our
planet shouldn’t be about being Black, white, gay, or straight. We have to
breakdown these barriers. This (Green movement) is about the environment. This
should be an issue regarding humanity," he said.
He also
commented about how the lack of Black faces at the Green Festival meant that
the movement needed to refocus.
"The
20th century was about equality. We're talking about an issue of
existency," Yearwood said. "We have to figure out a way to break down
these barriers. This is not a game."
The
native Louisianan witnessed the post-Hurricane Katrina has had on the people,
air and environment.
"I
have seen people die in hospices. And we continue to see the ravishes of fossil
fuels, but we can transition to solar and win," he said.
Yearwood
was the subject of the Discovery Network documentary, “Hip Hop Rev,” where
cameras followed him for a year as he practiced activism and informed
impoverished neighborhoods about green living.
"Our
battle is for our children's children. If we don't make a change now in our
lifestyle, then future generations can possibly not exist," the reverend
told the Defender.
He
concluded with a proposal for empowering educational systems to get involved in
the Green movement. After all, The U.S. Department of Education reports that
asthma is the number one cause of school absenteeism due to a chronic illness
among children.
"We
must go the high schools, and to the junior high schools, and to those in
elementary schools. There should be a mini Green Festival that makes sure that
every kid in Chicago schools comes through here (Green Festival).
We've
got to figure out a way. If it's true that it's about the next generation, and
we're running out of gas and resources...we have to include them, so they can
fight," he said.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
