Based Reassessment of the Philosophy of

This article suggests the need for a new “green ” and “Earth-based ” reas-sessment of the work of Booker Taliafaro Washington. Although it includes global and national perspectives, the African American community of South Central Los Angeles will provide the primary perspective. A general societal overreliance on petroleum-based chemicals has worked to the long-term environmental detriment of the African American community there. This article draws upon the works of four key environmental activists: Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, Robert Bullard, Van Jones, and Majora Carter. Work-ing across a range of academic disciplines, the authors integrate contempo-rary “diagnostic ” concepts of community health and environmental justice with older “prescriptive ” concepts of employment in the primary trades and community self-reliance. The authors suggest that these old “Bookerite” concepts merit reconsideration, reframing, and re-messaging. The life’s work of Washington has therefore been recast here, in light of its newfound green relevance for the African American community, today. at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 11, 2016jbs.sagepub.comDownloaded fro