Tag Archives: climate justice
Queen Quet of Gullah/Geechee Nation Presents for Fordham Mosaic Environmental and Climate Justice Panel
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation will be a featured panelist for the Fordham Mosaic Environmental and Climate Justice Panel. Join us for a discussion on the impacts of environmental and climate change sponsored by the MOSAIC affinity chapter and the Office of Alumni Relations. The conversation will surround how these environmental issues disproportionately affect certain populations due to income, race, geography or economy. These effects can have severe outcomes ranging from interrupted telecommunications and transportation to devastating losses including shelter, food, energy and ultimately life. This conversation will bring together voices from the Fordham alumni and faculty as well local leaders and experts in the field.
Holding onto Gullah/Geechee Culture as the Climate Changes the Coast
The land is our family and the waterways are our bloodline in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. So, as I take a stand for the land, I am taking a stand for my ancestors, my kinspeople, and for the children yet to be born. • Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation
Culture, Climate Change, Preparedness and Equity Amidst the Rising Sea @GullahGeechee
More oft than not, the dialogue and discussions about hurricanes and climate change have taken on the scope of devaluing locations financially in order to justify where funding and other resources will be directed during emergency responses and the restorations that follow. Given that many of us that live on the Sea Islands of the Gullah/Geechee Nation are part of a major tourists destination, we bear the burden of being capitalized on by many people of other cultures that see this area and any information that they can obtain about Gullah/Geechee traditions as tools to exploit the culture and the area for financial gain. The gated, suburbanized, resort, and gentrified properties are used to calculate the value of damage that would come after a storm hits or major flooding takes place. However, the value of the cultural heritage in these locations is not measurable via metrics and formulas. Therefore, the priceless nature of the Gullah/Geechee Nation is not something that de cumya comprehend.
Gullah/Geechee Land, Legacy, Access, and Sustainability
As I engage in the work on behalf of my people, one of the consistent questions over the years has been one regarding access issues in the Gullah/Geechee Nation and in the more recent years, the questions have also been about sustainability of the Gullah/Geechee Nation which brings us full circle to “saving the Sea Islands.” The environmental encroachment due to overbuilding that has been brought into the Gullah/Geechee Nation (and is not an outgrowth of native vision nor design) is now met with the rising seas and a myriad of climate science issues that continue to negatively impact the waterways and shoreline which lead to negative impacts on the quality of life for Gullah/Geechees. It also affects the continuation of our cultural traditions and the protection of cultural heritage assets. In the face of it all, we are “resilient.”