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Abstract

This essay explores the means of advocacy in a letter sent by the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) in 1990 that charges mainstream environmentalists with environmental racism. Although the letter is known for its importance in shaping the relationship between environmentalism and environmental justice, engaging the document's collaborative rhetorics illuminates the means by which its signatories crafted resistance and solidarity. To these ends, I argue that the letter crafts links between its signatories based on corresponding structural forces and common concerns. The letter also constructs and advances counter advocacies that work simultaneously as critiques of mainstream environmentalists as well as calls for improved partnerships between racialized communities and the Environmental Movement. Overall, this essay contributes to theories of advocacy by advancing an understanding of grassroots rhetorical practices that highlights how racialized communities construct linkages between each other and craft counter advocacies that call for cooperation between movements.

Journal Title

Iowa Journal of Communication

Volume

51

Issue

1

First Page

29

Last Page

54

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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