“Sunlaw, hear us; we don’t want you near us!”
“Sunlaw, hear us; we don’t want you near us!”
“What do we want?”
“Justice!”
In 2001, South Gate, California, a low-income Latino community, did something almost impossible. They blocked the construction of a 550-megawatt power plant. Such momentous victories are uncommon in the environmental movement.
The story of how a group of high school students defeated Sunlaw Energy Corporation is the subject of Karen Brokdkin’s book Power Politics: Environmental Activism in South Los Angeles.
After California’s deregulation of the energy market in 1998, the price of electricity skyrocketed, suddenly encouraging companies, like Sunlaw, to take advantage of consumers’ demand for cheap energy to build a power plant. As awareness of Sunlaw’s proposed project grew one year later, students in South Gate now had to convince residents that their health was more important than cheap energy and jobs needed in the community.
A sketch of Sunlaw’s proposed 550 mega-watt power plant in South Gate by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners.
A large portion of the book focuses on the work of Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). Founded in 1978, CBE is a trailblazing organization that combines policy, organizing, and legal action to help communities in Southeast Los Angeles fight against environmental injustice. Their work highlights how low-income people of color are disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards. In their effort to create a grassroots campaign, CBE created “Youth-EJ”, a group of students at South Gate High School interested in stopping the construction of the power plant.
As lead youth organizer at CBE, Yuki Kidokoro, prioritized creating a democratic campaign that students felt comfortable participating in. By August of 2000, Kidokoro formed the “Green Team”, a group of CBE’s organizers, technical experts, and Youth-EJ members to spearhead actions. Although this was the first step, she feared the lawyers and scientist’s specialized knowledge would silence youth members’ voices. Therefore, she encouraged community members to speak from their experiences and allow “scientists [to] help sharpen… and add more information [to their arguments].”Ultimately, giving youth the power to speak up was the first part of the equation.
Youth- EJ also engaged with the power plant issue inside their classrooms. Leticia Ortiz, a teacher at South Gate High, thought it was important to offer students different perspectives. “I like to present both sides …and the students make up their own minds in the process. My involvement was that I provided a space for students to find out what was going on.” Teachers at South Gate High believed that the best pedagogy was one that engaged students with issues relevant to their lives and also encouraged them to take action.
What readers might appreciate the most is Brokdkin’s ability to connect this story to a larger context. Current and future environmental justice campaigns should focus on collective action, the idea of engaging as many people to act together to reach a common goal. Youth-EJ members strategically used media sources and developed a concrete plan of action to engage as many people as possible. For example, CBE and Youth-EJ members phone banked, organized a youth concert in South Gate Park, and presented at other local city council meetings to obtain wider opposition of the project.
Another reason why Youth-EJ and CBE succeeded was due to their emphasis on direct contact. CBE and Youth-EJ were always visible in the community, which increased their credibility and ability to persuade community members. They valued the importance of personally addressing residents’ concerns.
As a result of CBE and Youth-EJ’s efforts, South Gate residents became more involved in the campaign. As a resident stated, “You look at a city like this and you think it’s just a bunch of working-class people. It’s not… Even though they didn’t really understand a lot, they came [to meetings] and tried to understand, and… they got up and asked questions.” By March 2001, South Gate’s visible opposition forced Sunlaw Energy to withdraw their application to build a power plant.
Power Politics: Environmental Activism in South Los Angeles. Power Politics is an engaging and valuable book that can serve as a model for current and future environmental justice campaigns. This story is unique in that CBE created the “Green Team” to lead the campaign and teachers made the power plant issue visible in their classrooms. But the strategies used, such as collective action and direct contact can be transferred to other environmental justice campaigns in Southeast Los Angeles today.
Power Politics demonstrates that organized communities have the power to create change. As Brokdkin documents, with the help of the right allies, communities have the ability to defeat even the most dominant industries.