• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
  • Environmental Justice Transitions to the Next Generation!

Environmental Justice Transitions to the Next Generation!

by Omega Wilson, Brenda Wilson, and Brandon Hunter | published on Oct 26, 2021

This year marks 30 years since the historic and monumental 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. where the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice were first established and forever changed how the language and framework used in the United States to address environmental injustices. While much about the current environmental justice movement remains the same today, people of color continue to “transition to the next generation” in so many places and in so many ways. 

In the early-1970s, Omega and Brenda Wilson transitioned from the historic HBCU Shaw University in Raleigh, NC where they learned a lot about the civil rights struggle in an all-Black environment. In 1974, Brenda and Omega were married in the historic landmark Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church founded by former slave Richard Allen in 1787 in “Center City” Philadelphia, PA. Mother Bethel’s legacy has always been about civil rights and public health equity for those transitioning from physical and mental slavery. Brenda was raised in Mother Bethel by her Seminole Indian grandfather Luther T Borroughs, from Jacksonville, FL, and African American grandmother Mamie Slappy-Borroughs, from Americus, GA (President Jimmy Carter’s hometown). Omega came from the Scott Dairy Farm plantation area of Hawfields in Alamance County, NC. The Carr side of Omega’s family came from the Scott plantation that produced two governors and a state senator for North Carolina. 

Omega and Brenda Wilson

Before the term “environmental justice” was coined in Warren County, NC, the Wilson couple was recruited in the mid-1970’s to help integrate the graduate school program at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. The Wilsons’ civil rights and women’s rights worked again transitioned into “environmental justice” and “right to basic amenities” when they co-founded the West End Revitalization Association (WERA) in 1995. Their three sons (Kojo, Omari, and Ayo) now have transitioned the “EJ” language into “Enviro-Art”, “land preservation”, and “clean energy and climate justice” for the forties generation (West End Revitalization Association – Right to Basic Amenities). Today, the “now generation” leaders are building upon foundational work and bringing it to various arenas, such as advocating for “EJ” and “civil rights” through EJ-Twitter, EJ-Facebook, EJ-Instagram, and EJ-LinkedIn, or a ”Justice Transition!” 

Dr. Brandon Hunter is a part of the “now generation”, fighting for equity and environmental justice. Being a product of a father who is a descendant of African slaves in rural South Georgia and a mother from the resource-scarce outskirts of Manila in the Philippines, Brandon learned of inequities, economic oppression, racism, the legacy of colonialism, and the importance of community in both domestic and international contexts. Since he was young, Brandon wanted to be a part of something greater than himself and give back to his communities who have been marginalized and oppressed. He fundamentally understood that previously colonized nations, low-income communities, BIPOC communities, and other communities of color have been historically and are currently disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards and contamination and have been intentionally excluded from environmental amenities. But he did not have the language, framework, or expert guidance needed to translate his skills and passions to environmental justice until he was taught, trained, tested, and mentored by seasoned EJ leaders and activists from the generation prior. 

Brandon Hunter

Through his dissertation work focused on sanitation justice, leaders and activists like Omega and Brenda Wilson, Catherine Flowers, Dr. Aradhna Tripati, and Dr. Sacoby Wilson invested in Brandon’s development to become an effective change agent and further helped him establish a career in the EJ space. Now Dr. Hunter is both an Environmental Engineering Researcher at Columbia University and an Environmental Justice Fellow at the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice where he develops more innovative sustainable and affordable wastewater treatment technologies, builds the capacities of impacted marginalized communities so that they can effectively execute their own strategies, and coalition-builds to influence state and federal infrastructure policy in order to advance environmental justice and equity.

The EJ movement today needs both the “then” and “now” generations to continue investing in each other, co-learning and co-developing effective strategies together, building up each other’s capacity to affect change, and healing each other. The movement cannot afford to lose the fundamental knowledge, wisdom, and expertise that have been developed over the years and must also further adapt to the novelties of the modern world we live in today.  On October 28th, the American Public Health Association along with the United Church of Christ will commemorate 30 years since the historic 1991 Summit took place with original Summit video clips, esteemed guest speakers, and insightful discussion. Please join us as we honor and celebrate all of those who have dedicated their professional and personal lives to the EJ movement, help us to raise and groom the next generation of EJ leaders, and learn how you can build upon the movement for environmental justice. Register here.

Written by Omega and Brenda Wilson, MA/MASE, and Brandon Hunter, PhD.

Categories: The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog

Sign Up For Our Newsletter








Privacy Policy






Related News

The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog

Faith Communities Unite for Trees

As part of the process of becoming a Creation Justice Church, Coral Gables Congregational,...

Read More
The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog

Arts and Activism Lecture Series

On World Communion Sunday in October of 2022, Coral Gables Congregational, United Church of...

Read More
The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog

When the Land Owns Us

Edgar Villanueva, a non-profit leader and member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, wrote...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative