Last week, HEATED reported that Al Sharpton used his annual National Action Network (NAN) civil rights convention to spread fossil fuel industry propaganda to Black communities. HEATED reported that Sharpton personally introduced a panel titled “Affordable energy is a civil rights issue,” during which four paid gas industry spokespeople falsely told attendees that methane gas is a “clean” fuel; that a net-zero future is primarily being pushed by rich people; and that access to methane should be seen as a civil rights issue.Our article featured reaction from several climate justice activists - including former EPA environmental justice chief Mustafa Santiago Ali - who strongly pushed back against the panelists’ claims. Sharpton never responded to our request for comment. A few days later, however, he appeared to respond in an indirect way: He invited Ali to come on his show. The journalism you’re consuming is 100 percent reader-funded. Help preserve HEATED’s ability to hold the powerful accountable by becoming a paid subscriber. The interview aired on Politics Nation, Sharpton’s MSNBC program, on Sunday. Sharpton kicked off the segment by noting the upcoming Earth Day, and the dangers Black communities disproportionately face from climate change.After Sharpton introduced Ali and Wawa Gatheru, the founder of Black Girl Environmentalist, he asked Ali to explain why Black Americans are more likely to express concern about air pollution than other racial groups. In response, Ali directly told Sharpton many of the same things he told HEATED last week: namely, that the fossil fuel industry directly puts Black lives in danger: We've got over 350,000 people who are dying prematurely from the burning of fossil fuels. We got more people dying from air pollution that are dying from car crashes. More people are dying from air pollution that are dying from overdoses of drugs. Even though that number goes up, we got more people dying from... |