We Stand with Our Community

The Anacostia Watershed Society mourns the senseless slayings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other innocent black lives that have been unjustly ended due to police brutality and the structural racism that enables it. 

We mourn the tragic death of Kelvin Tyrone Mock, a child who died while playing in the burning trash dump at Kenilworth that served as his neighborhood playground more than 50 years ago that inspired a movement for environmental justice for the Anacostia River and its surrounding communities. 

For decades, the plight of the river has mirrored the plight of the people who reside along its banks. It was not by accident or coincidence, but by design, that it served as a dumping ground for those with power and a swimming pool for those without. The same systems of racial and economic inequity that caused the river to become polluted have also been used to systematically disenfranchise and harm black people living in our community.

We feel and acknowledge the pain and anguish of those hurting in our community, and we stand with you in fighting for justice and peace.

As an organization, we will continue to learn and evolve in order to achieve the justice we seek and advance our vision of a restored Anacostia River where all can safely swim in its waters and fish from its banks. We will commit to share our platform and lift up the voices of the communities we serve, and we invite you to engage in dialogue with us, so that we can learn how to better combat the forces that oppress and stand in the way of progress.

Working together, we can heal our river, our watershed, and our communities. The Anacostia River has taught us resilience, and it feeds our hope for a brighter future for all. 

A Small Needful Fact
Ross Gay

Is that Eric Garner worked
for some time for the Parks and Rec.
Horticultural Department, which means,
perhaps, that with his very large hands,
perhaps, in all likelihood,
he put gently into the earth
some plants which, most likely,
some of them, in all likelihood,
continue to grow, continue
to do what such plants do, like house
and feed small and necessary creatures,
like being pleasant to touch and smell,
like converting sunlight
into food, like making it easier
for us to breathe.

We would like to take this moment to share some partner organizations working to connect Black communities with nature:

• Soul Trak Outdoors
• Outdoor Afro
• BlackAFinStem
• Green 2.0
• Building Bridges Across the River