Healin de Wata and Healin We: Victory and Vision of the Gullah/Geechee

Gullah/Geechee Nation ♦ January 10, 2025 ♦ Leave a comment

In 2024, the Gullah/Geechee Nation‘s leaders advanced the Gullah/Geechee Nation Sustainability Plan by successfully and effectively focusing on various mechanisms by which to protect the waters surrounding the Sea Islands and running through the region. This included focusing on the Savannah River, the Port Royal Sound, the St. Helena Sound, Ribault River and the Salkehatchie Rivers as well as the Atlantic Ocean in particular.

One of the major victories was another win for the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and SCELP in regard to protecting the Savannah River from plutonium pit creation. On September 30, 2024, United States District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis ruled that the United States Department of Energy (“DOE”) and its semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency, the National Nuclear Security Administration (“NNSA”), violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) by failing to properly consider alternatives before proceeding with their plan to produce plutonium pits, a critical component of nuclear weapons, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (“LANL”) in New Mexico and, for the first time ever, at the Savannah River Site (“SRS”) in South Carolina. The Court found that the plan’s purpose had fundamentally changed from NNSA’s earlier analyses which had not considered simultaneous pit production at two sites. These changes necessitated a reevaluation of alternatives, including site alternatives, which Defendants failed to undertake prior to moving forward while spending tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars.    

Therefore, the Court entered judgment in favor of Plaintiffs, the nonprofit public interest groups Savannah River Site Watch, Nuclear Water New Mexico and Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs); the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition; and Tom Clements as an individual plaintiff.    

This win lead to a nomination for “Arms Control Persons(s) of the Year for 2024.” We are calling on all of the Gullah/Geechee Nation‘s supporters to vote for SRS Watch and our allied groups for opposing plans for new nuclear bomb factories at US DOE’s Savannah River Site (South Carolina) & Los Alamos (New Mexico) while ignoring the main US environmental law (NEPA). Vote here:
https://2nyhxxrt.paperform.co/

This victory was followed by another for the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition when the new year began with US President Biden taking action to protect the entire U.S. East coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing. In protecting more than 625 million acres of the U.S. ocean from offshore drilling, President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential. With these withdrawals, President Biden has now conserved over 670 million acres of America’s lands and waters. We salute the President for hearing the voices of hundreds of thousands of us that came together to protect the Atlantic from offshore drilling and seismic gun testing! Tenki Tenki ta all hunnuh chillun wha bin da stand wit we!

One of the protections that were not a part of this victory is that of permanently protecting the Blake Plateau which lies in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean just off the Gullah/Geechee Nation‘s coast. Therefore, our focus will remain on working to protect this unique treasure. Please join us by signing up at https://conserveblakeplateau.org/.

Read more about the cultural significance of the Blake Plateau in this research paper by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, James P. Delgado of NOAA, Dr. Kamau Sadiki of Diving with a Purpose, Michael L. Brennan of Search Inc.:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386051420_Blake_Plateau_Cultural_Connections_and_the_National_Significance_of_an_Offshore_Maritime_Cultural_Landscape and this Atlanta Journal Constitution article: https://www.ajc.com/opinion/opinion-we-must-dive-deep-to-save-the-blake-plateaus/UIMUOWENOJAIJOXQMRB2FIQRJQ/

The flow of the vision continues in South Carolina as the community is being called upon to provide input about water resources. The South Carolina Office of Resilience and SC Sea Grant Consortium are seeking input on the Salkehatchie Watershed about people’s experiences with flooding and other hazards to learn more about the risks, vulnerabilities, and needs of the communities in the region to be able to assist with connection to resources and build more resilient communities. Historic St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island are two of the specific areas that are being focused on amongst the 7 counties along the Salkehatchie River Basin. On March 1st, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and Penn Center, Inc. will host an in-person input session for residents of the area. In the meantime, online input is being accepted at https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=FND46diAJ0-w1sPWwIX83YbSEqaPLMdEuQoCXsYwbIdUOEpTQkRIQTYwRTBRNjJEMkNSRDNLWk9JNy4u&origin=QRCode

South Carolina residents are invited to attend one of the upcoming WaterSC listening session to provide input about protecting and managing the state’s natural water resources. Public engagement is critical to WaterSC, which is charged with developing a water resources policy and plan that balances South Carolina’s economic and environmental interests to ensure the long-term protection of the state’s water resources as demand increases from record-breaking economic development and population growth. 

Water is a shared resource that’s critical to how we live, work and play. Residents have the opportunity to provide input on the management and preservation of water resources in South Carolina during an upcoming #WaterSC listening session. Join us on April 8th, 6-8 p.m. at Penn Center, Inc. on historic St. Helena Island, SC at a reception that will be hosted by the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition during which you can speak with #WaterSC participants, learn about water resource management, and provide input on water-use planning. Visit des.sc.gov/WaterSC for more info and to submit comments online.  

For more information, please visit: https://des.sc.gov/news/public-asked-provide-input-water-resource-planning-watersc-listening-session

Cuz we kno sey healin de wata da healin we, we waan hunnuh fa jayn een wit de Gullah/Geechee! The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, the Gullah/Geechee Fishing Association and the Gullah/Geechee Nation‘s leaders will continue to focus on the restoration and protection of our estuaries via the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) which you can learn more about at www.MarshForward.org.

Part of the effort to protect the salt marsh and the water quality of the Gullah/Geechee Nation is the Gullah/Geechee Coastal Removal Engaging Artists Through Environment (CREATE) Project. Gullah/Geechee CREATE’s first art showcase will launch Black History Month on February 1st at Noon at the Penn Center National Landmark Historic District in Darrah Hall of the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park on St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition is calling on all supporters to come out to enjoy the showcase, vote on the art and celebrate not only the progress of this project but the overall success of protecting the waters of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. Register here for FREE:

In honor of our ancestors that were brought across the Middle Passage and who worked the waterways of our new homeland, we believe “de wata bring we and de wata gwine tek we bak.” So, we have a vision of ensuring that the waters will be healed so that they will continue to nurture future generations of native Gullah/Geechees. We look forward to you joining in our flow of victory!